Basic aspects of deep lithography with particles for the fabrication of micro-optical and micromechanical structures

The strength of today's deep lithographic micro-machining technologies is their ability to fabricate monolithic building-blocks including optical and mechanical functionalities that can be precisely integrated in more complex photonic systems. In this contribution we present the physical aspects of Deep Lithography with ion Particles (DLP). We investigate the impact of the ion mass, energy and fluence on the developed surface profile to find the optimized irradiation conditions for different types of high aspect ratio micro-optical structures. To this aim, we develop a software program that combines the atomic interaction effects with the macroscopic beam specifications. We illustrate the correctness of our simulations with experimental data that we obtained in a collaboration established between the accelerator facilities at TUM, LNS and VUB. Finally, we review our findings and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of DLP with respect to Deep Lithography with X-rays (LIGA).