Fabrication of diffractive optical elements using a single optical exposure with a gray level mask

Abstract
A method for mass fabrication of environmentally rugged monolithic diffractive optical elements (DOEs) is demonstrated. A one‐step optical exposure, with a gray level mask, was used to produce analog resist profiles that were transferred into their substrates using chemically assisted ion beametching in a single etching step. The described procedure allows mass fabrication of DOEs without the tedious multiple exposure and etching steps commonly used in multilevel DOE fabrication. To generate a multilevel DOE in an optical substrate, only a single exposure using a gray level mask and a single etching step are necessary. The fabrication method presented will reduce processing time and increase manufacturability, which will result in a general cost reduction per element.

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