4 May 2000 | Agedi N. Boto, Pieter Kok, Daniel S. Abrams, Samuel L. Braunstein, Colin P. Williams, and Jonathan P. Dowling
The paper discusses the use of quantum interferometric optical lithography to overcome the diffraction limit in classical optical lithography. Classical lithography is limited to writing features of size \(\lambda/2\) or greater, where \(\lambda\) is the optical wavelength. The authors demonstrate that by using entangled photon states, it is possible to write features of minimum size \(\lambda/(2N)\) in an \(N\)-photon absorbing substrate. This allows for writing a factor of \(N^2\) more elements on a semiconductor chip. For \(N=2\), entangled photon pairs can be easily generated using optical parametric downconversion. The method is shown to be effective in writing arbitrary 2D patterns. The key advantage of entanglement is that the \(N\)-photon absorption cross-section scales linearly with intensity, unlike classical \(N\)-photon absorption which scales exponentially. This makes entangled \(N\)-photon lithography feasible with lower optical powers compared to classical methods. The paper also provides a detailed theoretical framework and experimental setup for achieving this technique.The paper discusses the use of quantum interferometric optical lithography to overcome the diffraction limit in classical optical lithography. Classical lithography is limited to writing features of size \(\lambda/2\) or greater, where \(\lambda\) is the optical wavelength. The authors demonstrate that by using entangled photon states, it is possible to write features of minimum size \(\lambda/(2N)\) in an \(N\)-photon absorbing substrate. This allows for writing a factor of \(N^2\) more elements on a semiconductor chip. For \(N=2\), entangled photon pairs can be easily generated using optical parametric downconversion. The method is shown to be effective in writing arbitrary 2D patterns. The key advantage of entanglement is that the \(N\)-photon absorption cross-section scales linearly with intensity, unlike classical \(N\)-photon absorption which scales exponentially. This makes entangled \(N\)-photon lithography feasible with lower optical powers compared to classical methods. The paper also provides a detailed theoretical framework and experimental setup for achieving this technique.