High-photosensitive resin for super-resolution direct-laser-writing based on photoinhibited polymerization

An ethoxylated bis-phenol-A dimethacrylate based photoresin BPE-100 of relatively high photosensitivity and modulus is used for the creation of sub-50 nm features. This is achieved by using the direct laser writing technique based on the single-photon photoinhibited polymerization. The super-resolution feature is realized by overlapping two laser beams of different wavelengths to enable the wavelength-controlled activation of photoinitiating and photoinhibiting processes in the polymerization. The increased photosensitivity of the photoresin promotes a fast curing speed and enhances the photopolymerization efficiency. Using the photoresin BPE-100, we achieve 40 nm dots for the first time in the super-resolution fabrication technique based on the photoinhibited polymerization, and a minimum linewidth of 130 nm. The influence of the power of the inhibiting laser and the exposure time on the feature size is studied and the results agree well with the prediction obtained from a simulation based on a non-steady-state kinetic model.