A method to control the density of a three-dimensional photonic crystal template involves changing the irradiation time from at least four laser beams to yield a periodic percolating matrix of mass and voids free of condensed matter from a photoresist composition. The photoresist composition includes a photoinitiator at a concentration where the dose or irradiation is controlled by the irradiation time and is less than the irradiation time that would convert all photoinitiator to initiating species such that the density of the three-dimensional photonic crystal template differs for different irradiation times. A deposition of reflecting or absorbing particles can be patterned on the surface of the photoresist composition to form a template with varying densities above different areas of the substrate.

An exposure light beam phase measurement method for laser interference photolithography comprises: separating a measurement light from an exposure light beam and inputting light into a laser phase measurement interferometer to carry out phase measurement on the exposure light beam; inputting a reference light beam homologous with the exposure light beam into the laser phase measurement interferometer; processing the reference light beam to form an interference measurement optical signal; calculating to obtain the phase of the exposure light beam. A laser interference photolithography system using the method comprises a laser phase measurement interferometer, a controller and phase modulators, the laser phase measurement interferometer measures whether the phase of an exposure light beam drifts, the controller controls phase modulators to carry out phase modulation, to achieve locking of exposure stripe phase drift and manufacturing of a high-precision variable-period optical grating.

Apparatuses and techniques for suppressing a zeroth order portion of a configured radiation beam. In some embodiments, an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithographic apparatus for forming an image on a substrate by use of an EUV radiation beam that is configured by a patterning device comprising a pattern of reflective regions and partially reflective regions, wherein the partially reflective regions are configured to suppress and apply a phase shift to a portion of the EUV radiation beam, may include a projection system. The projection system may be configured to suppress a zeroth order portion of a configured EUV radiation beam, and direct an unsuppressed portion of a configured EUV radiation beam towards a substrate to form an image on the substrate.

A system comprises a variable neutral density (ND) filter that has a first surface and a second surface that is opposite the first surface. The second surface is closer to an exposure region of a photosensitive film layer than the first surface. The photosensitive film layer is disposed on a surface of a substrate layer, and the variable ND filter has an attenuation profile that modulates transmittance of light passing through the variable ND filter to the exposure region. The system also includes one or more laser generators, each generating a coherent beam of light. The plurality of laser generators are arranged such that at least two of the generated coherent beams of light intersect with each other and form an intermediate interference exposure pattern that is modulated by the variable ND filter to form a target interference exposure pattern at the exposure region of the photosensitive film layer.

An image of an object can be synthesized either from the Fourier components of the electric field or from the Fourier components of the intensity distribution. Imaging with a lens is equivalent to assembling the Fourier components of the electric field in the image plane. This invention provides a method and a means for lensless imaging by assembling the Fourier components of the intensity distribution and combining them to form the image with the use of amplitude splitting interferometer. The angular spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation consists of wavefronts propagating at different angles. The amplitude of each wavefront is split and interfered with itself to create sinusoidal fringe patterns having different spatial frequencies. The sinusoidal fringe patterns are combined to form an image of the object. This method applies to coherent and incoherent light. A method of measuring the angular spectrum I(.sub.x,.sub.y) of an object, i.e. the intensity of the wavefront vs angle of incidence. An optical rotation sensor comprising an interferometer and a light source wherein the whole interferometer turns as a unit relative to the light source.

A block copolymer including a first block consisting of a polymer having a repeating structure of a structural unit (u1) containing no silicon atom, and a second block consisting of a polymer having a repeating structure of a structural unit (u2) containing a silicon atom, the second block containing a block (b21) consisting of a polymer having a repeating structure represented by general formula (u2-1), and a block (b22) consisting of a polymer having a repeating structure of a structural unit (u22) containing a silicon atom, and the block (b22) is positioned between the first block and the block (b21) (wherein R.sup.P211 represents an alkyl group, a halogenated alkyl group, a hydrogen atom, or an organic group having a polar group; and R.sup.P212 represents an organic group having a polar group).

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A particle detection method detects presence and location of particles on a target using measured signals from a plurality of structured illumination patterns. The particle detection method uses measured signals obtained by illuminating the target with structured illumination patterns to detect particles. Specifically, the degree of variation in these measured signals in raw images is calculated to determine whether a particle is present on the target at a particular area of interest.

A method for printing a desired periodic pattern into a photosensitive layer on a substrate includes providing a mask bearing a periodic pattern whose period is a multiple of that of the desired pattern. The substrate is disposed in proximity to the mask, at least one beam is provided for illuminating the mask pattern to generate a transmitted light-field described by a Talbot distance. The layer is exposed to time-integrated intensity distributions in a number of sub-exposures by illuminating the mask pattern with the at least one beam while changing the separation between substrate and mask by at least a certain fraction of, but less than, the Talbot distance. The illumination or the substrate is configured relative to the mask for the different sub-exposures so that the layer is exposed to the same time-integrated intensity distributions that are mutually laterally offset by a certain distance and in a certain direction.

Cascaded metasurfaces can control the phase, amplitude and polarization of an electromagnetic beam, shaping it in three dimensional configuration not achievable with other methods. Each cascaded metasurface has dielectric or metallic scatterers arranged in a period array. The shape of the scatterers determines the three dimensional configuration of the output beam and is determined with iterative calculations through computational simulations.

A method of fabricating a metasurface comprises coating a photoresist film onto a substrate and loading the coated substrate into a laser interference lithography setup, exposing the photoresist film via a laser with a first interference pattern, the first interference pattern having a first period and a first exposure energy, subsequently exposing the coated substrate with a second interference pattern, the second interference pattern having a second period and a second exposure energy, developing the exposed portions of the photoresist film to form a periodic pattern in the photoresist, and transferring the periodic pattern into the substrate, the substrate supporting an appropriate film system that embodies the final metasurface device.