SPIE - Education Fabrication Technologies for Micro- and Nano-Optics SC454

Applications of micro and nano-scale optics are widespread in essentially every industry that uses light in some way. A short list of sample application areas includes communications, solar power, biomedical sensors, laser-assisted manufacturing, and a wide range of consumer electronics. Understanding both the possibilities and limitations for manufacturing micro- and nano-optics is useful to anyone interested in these areas. To this end, this course provides an introduction to fabrication technologies for micro- and nano-optics, ranging from refractive microlenses to diffractive optics to sub-wavelength optical nanostructures. After a short overview of key applications and theoretical background for these devices, the principles of photolithography are introduced. With this backdrop, a wide variety of lithographic and non-lithographic fabrication methods for micro- and nano-optics are discussed in detail, followed by a survey of testing methods. Relative advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are discussed in terms of both technical capabilities and scalability for manufacturing. Issues and trends in micro- and nano-optics fabrication are also considered, focusing on both technical challenges and manufacturing infrastructure. Applications of micro and nano-scale optics are widespread in essentially every industry that uses light in some way. A short list of sample application areas includes communications, solar power, biomedical sensors, laser-assisted manufacturing, and a wide range of consumer electronics. Understanding both the possibilities and limitations for manufacturing micro- and nano-optics is useful to anyone interested in these areas. To this end, this course provides an introduction to fabrication technologies for micro- and nano-optics, ranging from refractive microlenses to diffractive optics to sub-wavelength optical nanostructures. After a short overview of key applications and theoretical background for these devices, the principles of photolithography are introduced. With this backdrop, a wide variety of lithographic and non-lithographic fabrication methods for micro- and nano-optics are discussed in detail, followed by a survey of testing methods. Relative advantages and disadvantages of different techniques are discussed in terms of both technical capabilities and scalability for manufacturing. Issues and trends in micro- and nano-optics fabrication are also considered, focusing on both technical challenges and manufacturing infrastructure.