PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Low-cost microscope projection photolithography system for high-resolution fabrication

Low-cost microscope projection photolithography system for high-resolution fabrication
2024-01-05
(Press-News.org) Integrated optical signal distributing, processing, and sensing networks require the miniaturization of basic optical elements, such as waveguides, splitters, gratings, and optical switches. To achieve this, fabrication approaches that allow for high-resolution manufacturing are required. Curved elements like bends and ring resonators are especially challenging to fabricate, as they need even higher resolution and lower sidewall roughness. Additionally, fabrication techniques with precise control of absolute structure dimensions are imperative.

Several technologies have been developed for subwavelength high-resolution manufacturing, such as direct laser writing, multi-photon lithography, electron beam lithography, ion beam lithography, and domino lithography. However, these technologies are costly, complex, and time-consuming. Nanoimprint lithography is an emerging replication technique well-suited for high-resolution and efficient manufacturing. However, it requires high-quality master stamps, which are usually produced using electron beam lithography.

In a new paper published in Light: Advanced Manufacturing, scientists Dr.-Ing. Lei Zheng et al. from the Leibniz University Hannover have developed a low-cost and user-friendly fabrication technique, called UV-LED-based microscope projection photolithography (MPP), for rapid high-resolution manufacturing of optical elements within seconds. This approach transfers structure patterns on a photomask to a photoresist-coated substrate under UV illumination.

The MPP system is based on standard optical and optomechanical elements. Instead of a mercury lamp or a laser, an extremely low-cost UV-LED with a wavelength of 365 nm is used as the light source.

The researchers developed a preceding process to obtain the structure-patterned chromium mask required in MPP. It includes structure design, printing on a transparent foil, and the pattern transfer onto the chromium photomask. They established a lithography setup for the preparation of photomasks as well. Structure patterns printed on the transparent foil can be transferred to a chromium photomask with this setup and a subsequent wet-etching process.

The MPP system can fabricate high-resolution optical elements with feature sizes down to 85 nm. This is comparable to the resolution of much more expensive and complex fabrication methods, such as multi-photon and electron beam lithography. MPP could be used to fabricate microfluidic devices, biosensors, and other optical devices.

This fabrication approach developed by the researchers is a significant advancement in the field of lithography for the rapid and high-resolution structuring of optical elements. It is particularly well-suited for applications where rapid prototyping and low-cost fabrication are important. For example, it could be used to develop new optical devices for biomedical research or to prototype new MEMS devices for consumer electronics applications.

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Low-cost microscope projection photolithography system for high-resolution fabrication

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Titan’s “magic islands” likely honeycombed hydrocarbon icebergs

2024-01-05
WASHINGTON — Titan’s “magic islands” are likely floating chunks of porous, frozen organic solids, a new study finds, pivoting from previous work suggesting they were gas bubbles. The study was published in Geophysical Research Letters, AGU’s journal for high-impact, short-format reports with immediate implications spanning all Earth and space sciences. A hazy orange atmosphere 50% thicker than Earth’s and rich in methane and other carbon-based, or organic, molecules blankets Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. Its surface is covered with dark dunes of organic material and seas of liquid methane and ethane. ...

Historic urban Landscape Paradigm—A tool for balancing values and changes in the urban conservation process

Historic urban Landscape Paradigm—A tool for balancing values and changes in the urban conservation process
2024-01-05
Today, for the first time in human history, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Coincidentally, within the field of cultural heritage conservation, increasing international interest and attention over the past two decades has been focused on urban areas. This is timely because the pressure for economic development and for the prioritizing of engagement with the global economy have accompanied rapid urbanization. In many societies, economic development has privileged modernization efforts leading to the loss of traditional communities. ...

UC Irvine engineers invent octopus-inspired technology that can deceive and signal

2024-01-05
Irvine, Calif., Jan 4, 2024 — With a split-second muscle contraction, the greater blue-ringed octopus can change the size and color of the namesake patterns on its skin for purposes of deception, camouflage and signaling. Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have drawn inspiration from this natural wonder to develop a technological platform with similar capabilities for use in a variety of fields, including the military, medicine, robotics and sustainable energy.   According to its inventors, new devices made possible by this ...

Classifying the natural history of asymptomatic malaria

Classifying the natural history of asymptomatic malaria
2024-01-05
Detecting malaria in people who aren’t experiencing symptoms is vital to public health efforts to better control this tropical disease in places where the mosquito-borne parasite is common. Asymptomatic people harboring the parasite can still transmit the disease or become ill later, after initially testing negative. The dynamic lifecycle of this pathogen means that parasite densities can suddenly drop below the level of detection — especially when older, less sensitive tests are used. Such fluctuations can make it difficult, when testing only at a single point in time, to determine if an apparently healthy person is in fact infected. Malaria ...

New images reveal what Neptune and Uranus really look like

New images reveal what Neptune and Uranus really look like
2024-01-05
Under embargo until 00:01 GMT on Friday 5 January 2024 /19:01 ET Thursday 4 January 2024 Royal Astronomical Society and University of Oxford press release Neptune is fondly known for being a rich blue and Uranus green – but a new study has revealed that the two ice giants are actually far closer in colour than typically thought. The correct shades of the planets have been confirmed with the help of research led by Professor Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford, which has been published today in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He and his team found that both worlds ...

Students build science identity through immersive research experience

Students build science identity through immersive research experience
2024-01-05
Each summer, community college students from Colorado and surrounding states converge on the CU Boulder campus to participate in an immersive nine-week research program. A recent CIRES-led study reveals that when the students head home, they don’t just take new scientific and professional skills with them—they also leave with more confidence in their ability to do science and a greater sense of belonging in the science community. The work, published last month in PLOS ONE, suggests that authentic research experiences inspire community college students’ interest in STEM careers. “Paid, ...

Bipolar disorder linked to early death more than smoking

2024-01-04
Having bipolar disorder – a serious mental illness that can cause both manic and depressed moods – can make life more challenging.  It also comes with a higher risk of dying early. Now, a study puts into perspective just how large that risk is, and how it compares with other factors that can shorten life.  In two different groups, people with bipolar disorder were four to six times more likely as people without the condition to die prematurely, the study finds.  By contrast, people who had ever smoked were about twice as likely to die prematurely than those ...

Most babies with sickle cell disease face double disadvantage

2024-01-04
As if starting life with a potentially disabling genetic blood disease wasn’t enough, a study shows that almost two-thirds of babies born with sickle cell disease are born to mothers who live in disadvantaged areas.  But the study shows wide variation between states in the rate of births of babies with sickle cell to residents of areas with crowded housing, limited transportation options and other characteristics.  The researchers say their data could help public health authorities focus efforts to support the complex needs of children with sickle cell disease and their families.  The ...

Study shows liraglutide results in increased insulin sensitivity independent of weight loss

2024-01-04
  A new study published in the journal Diabetes demonstrates that a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, a member of a class of medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, can lead to a rapid improvement in insulin sensitivity. Insulin sensitivity is how responsive cells are to insulin, an essential hormone that controls blood glucose levels. An increase in insulin sensitivity means insulin can more effectively lower the blood glucose. Reduced insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance is a feature of Type 2 diabetes. Thus, improved ...

YAP and TAZ: Protein partners identified as potential key for fetal bone development

2024-01-04
A pair of proteins, YAP and TAZ, has been identified as conductors of bone development in the womb and could provide insight into genetic diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta, known commonly as “brittle bone disease.” This small animal-based research, published today in Developmental Cell and led by members of the McKay Orthopaedic Research Laboratory of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, adds understanding to the field of mechanobiology, which studies how mechanical forces influence biology. “Despite more than a century of study on the mechanobiology of bone development, the cellular and molecular ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury

Melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic ce

Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B Volume 15, Issue 7 Publishes

New research expands laser technology

Targeted radiation offers promise in patients with metastasized small cell lung cancer to the brain

A high clinically translatable strategy to anti-aging using hyaluronic acid and silk fibroin co-crosslinked hydrogels as dermal regenerative fillers

Mount Sinai researchers uncover differences in how males and females change their mind when reflecting on past mistakes

CTE and normal aging are difficult to distinguish, new study finds

Molecular arms race: How the genome defends itself against internal enemies

Tiny chip speeds up antibody mapping for faster vaccine design

KTU experts reveal why cultural heritage is important for community unity

More misfolded proteins than previously known may contribute to Alzheimer’s and dementia

“Too much going on”: Autistic adults overwhelmed by non-verbal social cues

What’s driving America’s deep freezes in a warming world?

A key role of brain protein in learning and memory is deciphered by scientists

Heart attacks don’t follow a Hollywood script

Erin M. Schuman wins 2026 Nakasone Award for discovery on neural synapse function and change during formation of memories

Global ocean analysis could replace costly in-situ sound speed profiles in seafloor positioning, study finds

Power in numbers: Small group professional coaching reduces rates of physician burnout by nearly 30%

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage: A comprehensive review of CCUS-EOR

New high-temperature stable dispersed particle gel for enhanced profile control in CCUS applications

State gun laws and firearm-related homicides and suicides

Use of tobacco and cannabis following state-level cannabis legalization

Long-term obesity and biological aging in young adults

Eindhoven University of Technology and JMIR Publications announce unlimited open access publishing agreement

Orphan nuclear receptors in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease development

A technological breakthrough for ultra-fast and greener AI

Pusan National University researchers identify key barriers hindering data-driven smart manufacturing adoption

Inking heterometallic nanosheets: A scalable breakthrough for coating, electronics, and electrocatalyst applications

[Press-News.org] Low-cost microscope projection photolithography system for high-resolution fabrication