Immersion Lithography and the Limits of Optical Lithography

doi:10.1117/3.2525393.ch10

Book: Principles of Lithography, Fourth Edition

Author(s): Harry J. Levinson

Published: 2019

https://doi.org/10.1117/3.2525393.ch10

Abstract

It has long been known that resolution in optical microscopy can be enhanced by immersing microscope objective lenses in a liquid that has an index of refraction greater than 1.0. This is not something that can be accomplished by using optics that have been designed for imaging in air, but requires lenses that have been designed specifically for operation using an immersion fluid with a well-defined index of refraction. Nevertheless, such optics have been exploited successfully in optical microscopy for over a century.