Quantized patterning using nanoimprinted blanks

Quantum lithography (QL) is a revolutionary approach, increasing the throughput and lowering the cost of scanning electron beam lithography (EBL). But it has not been pursued since its inception 17 years ago, due to the lack of a viable method for making the blanks needed. Here we propose and demonstrate a new general viable approach to QL blank fabrication, that is based on (a) nanoimprinting and (b) a new wafer-scale nanoimprint mold fabrication that uses not EBL but a unique combination of interference lithography, self-perfection, multiple nanoimprinting, and other novel nanopatterning. We fabricated QL blanks (a 2D Cr square tile array of 200nm pitch, 9nm gap, and sub-10nm corners, corresponding to a 50nm node 4 × photomask) and demonstrated that QL can greatly relax the requirements for the EBL tool, increase the throughput and reduce the cost of EBL by orders of magnitude, and is scalable to the 22nm node.