Nanopatterning mask fabrication by femtosecond laser irradiation

Surface plasmons are photo-coupled quanta of electro excitation at the boundary of a metal and dielectric, which is a charge density wave of free electrons. Another important feature of surface plasmons resonance, in addition to the enhancement of electric field, is the ability to pass through surface structure smaller than incident laser wavelength and makes it have a potential to overcome the diffraction limit resulting in the breakthrough of nanotechnology. For surface plasmon resonance developing a mask with small feature size is vital. In this paper, mask fabrication by laser irradiation on self-assembly silica particles was described. Compared with the theoretical simulation, it is shown that self-assembly particle-assisted nanopatterning can fabricate a mask with very fine features effectively. With a proper particle size, laser wavelength and laser fluence, periodical structures generated can meet the requirement for surface plasmon use.