Exposure method, exposure equipment and 3-D structure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10001707-B2
Application number	US-201615296335-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2016
Priority date	Apr 8, 2016
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

An exposure method is provided. The exposure method includes coating a photo-curable material on a substrate, and exposing a portion of the photo-curable material by providing a first light source through an optical fiber to form a first photo-cured material. The optical fiber includes a light output end and a cone portion that tapers toward the light output end. The photo-curable material not exposed by the first light source is removed while leaving the first photo-cured material. Exposure equipment for performing the exposure method and a 3-dimensional structure formed thereby are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An exposure method, comprising:
coating a photo-curable material on a substrate;
exposing a first portion of the photo-curable material by providing a first light source through an optical fiber to form a first photo-cured material, wherein the optical fiber comprises a light output end and a cone portion that tapers toward the light output end, wherein a cross-sectional profile of the cone portion of the optical fiber has a length L and a width W, and a ratio L/W of the length L to the width W is 5-20; and
removing a second portion of photo-curable material that is not exposed by the first light source while leaving the first photo-cured material.

2. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the light output end has a light output area in a range of 10-10 6 nm 2 .

3. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first light source has a wavelength λ, and a ratio L/λ of the length L to the wavelength λ is greater than 10.

4. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the optical fiber has a first refractive index n1, and the photo-curable material has a second refractive index n2, and wherein a ratio n1/n2 of the first refractive index n1 to the second refractive index n2 is in a range of 0.9-1.1.

5. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein during the exposure of the photo-curable material, a shortest distance between the optical fiber and the photo-curable material is in a range of 0.1-100 nm.

6. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising repeating the steps of coating, exposing, and removing at least once to form a 3-dimensional structure.

7. The exposure method as claimed in claim 1 , before the exposure by providing the first light source, further comprising:
forming a patterned photomask layer on the photo-curable material;
exposing a portion of the photo-curable material which is not covered by the patterned photomask layer by providing a second light source to form a second photo-cured material; and
removing the patterned photomask layer, wherein the exposure by providing the first light source is performed on a portion of the photo-curable material other than the portion exposed by the second light source.

8. An exposure equipment, comprising:
a carrier platform for placing photo-curable material;
a light source module comprising an optical fiber, wherein the optical fiber comprises a light output end and a cone portion that tapers toward the light output end, and the optical fiber is configured to provide a light source for performing an exposure step on the photo-curable material, wherein a cross-sectional profile of the cone portion of the optical fiber has a length L and a width W, and a ratio L/W of the length L to the width W is 5-20; and
a control module for controlling a motion of the optical fiber.

9. The exposure equipment as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the light output end has a light output area in a range of 10-10 6 nm 2 .

10. The exposure equipment as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the first light source has a wavelength λ, and a ratio L/λ of the length L to the wavelength λ is greater than 10.

11. The exposure equipment as claimed in claim 8 , wherein a shortest moving distances of the optical fiber controlled by the control module in X direction, Y direction, and Z direction are Δx, Δy, and Δz, respectively, and wherein at least one of Δx, Δy, and Δz is in a range of 1-100 nm.

Assignees

• Winbond Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Ho Yu-Hsuan

Classifications

• G03F7/2053 Primary

  using a laser (ablative removal B41C) · CPC title

• G03F7/70416

  2.5D lithography · CPC title

• G03F7/2051

  Exposure without an original mask, e.g. using a programmed deflection of a point source, by scanning, by drawing with a light beam, using an addressed light or corpuscular source (G03F7/70 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G03F7/70383

  Direct write, i.e. pattern is written directly without the use of a mask by one or multiple beams (maskless lithography using a programmable mask G03F7/70291) · CPC title

• G03F7/2035 Primary

  simultaneous coating and exposure; using a belt mask, e.g. endless · CPC title