Application of smoothing techniques to relief-type resist surfaces generated by direct write electron-beam lithography

Complex relief-type resist surfaces are of increasing interest for applications in optical and photonic devices. They can be fabricated by using direct write electron beam lithography. The crucial point in the fabrication of such reliefs is the inexact approach to the desired resist profile and the increased roughness of the resist surface. This work focuses on three important steps towards a better realization of smooth profiles, i.e. an improvement in beam position accuracy, a reduction of exposure errors caused by the insufficiency of the conversion software and a smoothing technique applied after development. The introduced techniques are expected to considerably improve the functionality of relief type devices.