Disclosed herein are methods of using a fluoro oil mask to prepare a beam pen lithography pen array.

A maskless exposure apparatus includes a light source, an optical head including a light modulator and an optical system, and reflecting light from the light source to radiate the light to a substrate to be exposed, a stage supporting the substrate and moving the substrate in a scanning direction, where the substrate is rotated such that a reference line of the substrate is at a first angle with respect to the scanning direction, and an optical head rotating unit rotating the optical head. When patterns are formed on the substrate in a direction of a first row and an nth row that is substantially perpendicular to the reference line, the first angle is set such that illuminations accumulated, by a beam spot array, in first portions and second portions on the substrate respectively corresponding to the patterns of the first row and the patterns of the nth row vary.

A calibration system includes: an optical system that is provided insertably into and removably from an optical path of the beam that is emitted from the exposure head and enters the exposure surface, the optical system guiding the beam in a direction different from that of the optical path when the optical system is inserted into the optical path; a movement mechanism that inserts and removes the optical system into and from the optical path; and an optical sensor having a light-receiving surface for receiving the beam that is guided by the optical system when the optical system is inserted into the optical path, the optical sensor outputting a detection signal by detecting an irradiation position and an irradiation intensity at the light-receiving surface of the beam that has entered the light-receiving surface.

Techniques herein include methods for planarizing films including films used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Such fabrication can generate structures on a surface of a substrate, and these structures can have a spatially variable density across the surface. Planarization methods herein include depositing a first acid-labile film overtop the structures and the substrate, the first acid-labile film filling between the structures. A second acid-labile film is deposited overtop the first acid-labile film. An acid source film is deposited overtop the second acid-labile film, the acid source film including an acid generator configured to generate an acid in response to receiving radiation having a predetermined wavelength of light. A pattern of radiation is projected over the acid source film, the pattern of radiation having a spatially variable intensity at predetermined areas of the pattern of radiation.

In a method of atomic precision advanced manufacturing (APAM), an atomic or molecular resist layer on a substrate surface is selectively depassivated by locally exciting the substrate surface with an optical beam effective to eject adsorbed atoms or molecules from the substrate surface. The substrate surface is further processed by exposing it to a precursor gas, decomposing the precursor gas to release a dopant, and incorporating the dopant into the substrate surface.

Methods of producing grating materials with variable height fins are provided. In one example, a method may include providing a mask layer atop a substrate, the mask layer including a first opening over a first processing area and a second opening over a second processing area. The method may further include etching the substrate to recess the first and second processing areas, forming a grating material over the substrate, and etching the grating material in the first and second processing areas to form a plurality of structures oriented at a non-zero angle with respect to a vertical extending from a top surface of the substrate.

A super-resolution system for nano-patterning is disclosed, comprising an exposure head that enables a super-resolution patterning exposures. The super-resolution exposures are carried out using electromagnetic radiation and plasmonic structures, and in some embodiments, plasmonic structures having specially designed super-resolution apertures, of which the “bow-tie” and “C-aperture” are examples. These apertures create small but bright images in the near-field transmission pattern. A writing head comprising one or more of these apertures is held in close proximity to a medium for patterning. In some embodiments, a data processing system is provided to re-interpret the data to be patterned into a set of modulation signals used to drive the multiple individual channels and multiple exposures, and a detection means is provided to verify the data as written.

A method of producing a cell culture chip, in which a first adhesive is film-formed on a first substrate having transparency such that a first adhesive layer and a recessed portion on which one or more cell culture flow paths are formed face each other, and a second adhesive is film-formed on the first substrate such that a second adhesive layer and a flat portion around the recessed portion face each other, thereby obtaining a cell culture flow path substrate, the first adhesive containing a polyester-based resin having a glass transition temperature of 5° C. or higher, and the second adhesive containing a polyester-based resin having a glass transition temperature of lower than 5° C.

An apparatus is provided configured to manufacture an article using a multi-layer/laminated photoresist comprising a plurality of layers of photoresist material, where at least a first layer of photoresist material has a first sensitivity to radiation, and at least a second layer of photoresist material has a different sensitivity to radiation. The apparatus comprises: a. a housing configured to receive the photoresist and locate the photoresist in at least one operational position in the housing; b. an exposure system configured to emit radiation which is incident on the photoresist when in the operational position; wherein: i. the exposure system is configured to emit radiation having a first radiation characteristic to induce a change in one or more properties of the area(s) of the first layer of photoresist material exposed to the radiation; and wherein ii. the first radiation characteristic is configured not to induce a change, or to induce a different change, in one or more properties of at least a different one of the layers of photoresist material. Consequently complex articles can be manufactured including hidden or partially visible features, such as overhangs for example.

Systems and methods for exposing photopolymer printing plate material located within a target area having first and second dimensions. A light source having LEDs arrayed coextensive with the first dimension moves relative to the second dimension, and emits different light intensities over the target area in at least one of the first dimension or the second dimension. The systems and methods may be used to determine exposure parameters for curing a selected plate by causing different sample units to receive different amounts of total energy exposure, exposure energy per exposure step, or a combination thereof, and visually evaluating each sample unit against a reference plate of the same type and thickness. The sample unit embodying a minimum acceptable total exposure energy and a maximum acceptable exposure energy per exposure step is then identified.