A novel optical lithography implement utilizing third harmonic generation via metallic tip enhanced near field

A novel scheme for near-field optical lithography utilizing a metallic tip illuminated by femtosecond laser pulses with proper polarization has been presented. The strongly enhanced near field at the metallic tip offers a localized excitation source for the third harmonic generation in the nonlinear material. The generated third harmonic via excitation of nonlinear photoresist provides good exposure contrast due to the cubic intensity dependence. The spatial resolution of this novel lithography scheme is shown to be better than that of the conventional lithography technique.