Improving spatial resolution and reducing aspect ratio in multiphoton polymerization nanofabrication

The authors investigate the phenomena affecting lateral spatial resolution (LSR) and aspect ratio (AR) in multiphoton polymerization (MPP) nanofabrication. A LSR of 50 nm and an AR of 1.38 were achieved for photocured polymer lines on the surface of a substrate by continuing scanning mode. Theoretical analysis based on the distribution of light intensity in this setup indicates that the LSR could be improved to better than 20 nm. The asymmetric shrinkage of voxel in the axial and lateral directions has a significant impact for obtaining features of low AR, which are a critical requirement for construction of micro/nanodevices by MPP nanofabrication. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.