Talbot photolithography optimization with engineered hybrid metal-dielectric mask: High-contrast and highly-uniform Talbot stripes

Conventional projection Talbot lithography usually employs opaque (amplitude) or transparent (phase) masks for creating a periodic array of Fresnel diffraction fringes in the photosensitive substrate. For particular mask design the longitudinal periodicity of Talbot carpet can be avoided producing quasi uniform striped pattern (Talbot stripes). We propose a novel hybrid amplitude-phase mask which is engineered for obtaining extremely smooth Talbot stripes and simultaneously high lateral optical contrast and extreme spatial resolution better than a third of laser wavelength. By means of the numerical simulations, we demonstrate the robustness of produced striped diffraction patterns against mask design deviation and light incidence angle variations. The reproducibility of the Talbot stripes is reported also for 1D and 2D metal-dielectric projection masks.