Patterning Spherical Surfaces at the Two‐Hundred‐Nanometer Scale Using Soft Lithography

Two soft lithographic techniques—topographically directed photolithography (TOP) and near‐field contact‐mode photolithography—have been used to pattern spherical surfaces with features as small as 175 nm. Each technique has the ability to pattern more than a 60° arc of a spherical surface, albeit with distortions at the edge. Use as an optical polarizer demonstrates an application of these types of patterned surface.