Relationship of phase shift mask design and size of three-dimension nanostructures

Flexible and high-efficiency thermoelectric devices can be achieved by relying on three-dimensional nanostructures fabricated by proximity-field nanopatterning (PnP) process. In this study, the phase shift mask, which generates the light diffraction in the photoresist, has been studied. To enhance device performance, the size limitation of the mask for this process was investigated as well as how the mask affects the device performance in light propagation simulations. Results show that decreasing the nanostructure size by altering the periodicity from 0.60 µm to 0.30 µm results in 50 % filling factor (FF). To summarize, the mask periodicity 0.30 µm is the size limitation performed by simulation, and the mask periodicity 0.40 µm is an exciting candidate for future work.