Method of building a 3D functional optical material layer stacking structure

A method for forming a sub-micron 3D optical material structure on a diffractive optics element without planarization, the method comprising:

• A) depositing a material stack to be patterned on a substrate;
• B) depositing and patterning a mask material on a portion of the material stack;
• C) etching the material stack down one level;
• D) trimming a side portion of the mask material;
• E) etching the material stack down one more level;
• F) repeating D and E ‘N’ times;
• G) stripping the mask material from the material stack;
• and
• (H) depositing and patterning with lithography a hard mask layer configured to resist an etch of the material stack.

A method for forming a sub-micron 3D optical material structure on a diffractive optics element without planarization, the method comprising:

• A) coating a substrate with a first layer of a material;
• B) exposing the material with a lithography technique to produce a first pattern;
• C) curing the exposed material;
• D) coating the substrate with a second layer of the material;
• E) exposing the material with the lithography technique to produce a second pattern;
• F) curing the exposed material;
• G) repeating steps D through F ‘N’ times for ‘N’ layers of the material having ‘N’ patterns exposed therein;
• and
• H) developing the exposed and cured regions of ‘N’ patterns on n layers simultaneously.

A method of fabricating a sub-micron 3D diffractive optics element, the method comprising:

• A) depositing an optical material stack to be patterned into a diffractive optics element on a substrate;
• B) exposing the material with a photolithography technique to produce a first pattern;
• C) curing the exposed material;
• D) repeating steps A through C ‘N’ times for ‘N’ layers of the material having ‘N’ patterns exposed therein;
• E) developing the exposed and cured regions of ‘N’ patterns on n layers simultaneously to form a master wherein the master is an inverse of the sub-micron 3D diffractive optics element;
• and
• F) using the master to form a plurality of the sub-micron 3D diffractive optics element.