Te-free SbBi thin film as a laser heat-mode photoresist

A Te-free binary phase change material SbBi is proposed as a new inorganic photoresist for heat-mode lithography. It shows good film-forming ability (surface roughness <1 nm), low threshold power for crystallization (2 mW), and high etching selectivity (15:1). Line-type, dot-type, and complex pattern structures with the smallest feature size of 275 nm are fabricated on SbBi thin films using a 405 nm diode laser direct writing system. In addition, the excellent grating structures with a period of 0.8 μm demonstrate that thermal interference does not affect the adjacent microstructures obviously. These results indicate that SbBi is a promising laser heat-mode resist material for micro/nanostructure fabrication.