Apparatus and method of direct writing with photons beyond the diffraction limit

A method of performing direct-write lithography in a photoresist layer, comprising:

• forming on the photoresist layer a first transducer image having an exposure wavelength and comprising a first array of first bright spots;
• superimposing on the transducer image at the photoresist layer two or three interference fringe patterns oriented symmetrically to each other and having an inhibition wavelength which forms an interference image that defines an array of dark spots;
• and
• performing a first exposure by aligning first ones of the dark spots and the first bright spots, wherein the each first dark spots trims a periphery of the correspondingly aligned first bright spot so that the first bright spots form a first set of sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than would be formed in the absence of the dark spots.

A method of performing direct-write lithography in a photoresist layer, comprising:

• forming on the photoresist layer an image of a transducer having an array of transducer pixels with a select orientation, the transducer image having an exposure wavelength and comprising an array of bright spots of a first size that correspond to activated transducer pixels in the array of transducer pixels;
• superimposing on the transducer image at the photoresist two or three interference fringe patterns oriented symmetrically about an axis normal to the photoresist resist layer and having an inhibition wavelength which form an interference image that defines an array of dark spots;
• and
• performing an exposure by aligning the dark spots and the bright spots, wherein the each aligned dark spot trims a periphery of the corresponding bright spot so that the bright spots form sub-resolution photoresist pixels having a size smaller than if the dark spots were absent.