Micro and nanolithography for photonic meta-materials and photonic nanostructures

This paper reviews our recent progress of micro and nanolithography techniques for the fabrications of planar photonic meta-materials and other nano photonic structures. The nanotechnologies involved in this development include the state-of-the-art electron-beam lithography (EBL), nanoimprint lithography (NIL), hot embossing, soft lithography and hybrid lithography, which is the combination of different lithography processes. Using these technologies, various meta-materials in sizes from micrometres down to sub-100 nm were successfully fabricated. Characterisations of these meta-materials have revealed a wealth of novel phenomena in nanophotonics. This paper will also discuss the advantages, disadvantages and suitability of each technology involved, trying to give a fair judgement for the applicability of the developed techniques. It can be concluded that micro and nanolithography are capable of achieving functional planar optic meta-materials in both single layer and multiple layer. Especially the developed manufacture processes using nanoimprint lithography and hot embossing technique may lead to fast speed patterning for high throughput and low cost mass production for broad applications.