The capacities of a new 'all-dry' resist system for in situ microstruc
turing have been investigated. The system consists of a 1000 nm thick
vacuum deposited polymer (polyimide) layer and a 40 nm thick E-beam ev
aporated carbide (TiC or B4C) film. The bilayer system is patterned in
situ in two stages. The microstructuring of the carbide film is carri
ed out by a single pulse excimer laser exposure at threshold fluencies
of 27 mJ/cm(2) and 23 mJ/cm(2) for TiC and B4C, respectively. The las
er generated image is transferred into the bottom polyimide layer by r
eactive ion etching in an O-2 ambience. The proposed all-dry lithograp
hic system provides an attractive scientific and technological basis f
or the integrated microstructuring processes, easily adaptable to the
existing microelectronic technologies. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Sci
ence Ltd.