A new sub-micron photolithography tool has been realized by utilizing the interference of surface plasmon waves(SPWs) on the near surface of a silver(Ag)-clad ultraviolet(UV) planar waveguide.A laser beam with a wavelength of 325 nm was incident into the waveguide core,and suffered a series of total internal reflections on the interfaces between the waveguide core and the cladding layers.The incident light and the reflected light induced two beams of SPWs traveling in contrary directions,which interfered with each other and formed a standing wave as a sub-micron photolithography tool.A near-field scanning optical microscope(NSOM) was employed to measure the intensity distribution of the stationary wave field of the near surface of the Ag layer of the waveguide,anastomosed with theoretical values acquired by use of finite difference time domain(FDTD) simulations.And with this sub-micron photolithography tool a SMG with a period of 79.3 nm,in good agreement with the theoretical value of 80.1 nm,was inscribed on the surface of a self-processing hybrid SiO2/ZrO2 solgel film for the first time.
A new kind of organic-inorganic hybrid HfO2/SiO2 sol-gel material with a large thermo-optic coefficient and a wide linear tunable temperature range has been developed for fabrication of a long period waveguide grating （LPWG） filter, whose parameters were optimized and designed by using finite difference time domain （FDTD） simulations. The LPWG filter, a periodic rectangle-corrugated grating structure, was easily fabricated with soft-lithography technique. At a temperature range from 19~C to 70~C, the fabricated LPWG filter element demonstrated a high temperature sensitivity of about 6.5 nm/~C and a wide linear tunable temperature range of 51℃, so that it can be used as a precise thermometer. Our results are useful for the designs of LPWG filters for the implementation of a wide range of thermo-optic functions.
In order to promote the light output powers of GaN-based light emitting diodes (LEDs), two kinds of novel corrosive liquidshave been developed in this paper to roughen the surface of the indium tin oxide (ITO) current spreading layer of LEDs. As aresult, the textured transparent ITO layer greatly enhanced the external quantum efficiency of the LEDs. Provided that a wafersample was dipped in a kind of corrosive liquid developed by us for only about 60 s, the light output powers of the LEDs canbe promoted by 24.7%, compared with conventional GaN-based LEDs. It is obvious that the presented method is simple, rapidand cost-effective.
