Precision laser recording on a molybdenum films for diffractive microrelief formation

The problem of reducing the thickness of the lines of contact pattern masks used in the formation of micro-relief of diffractive optical elements (DOEs) and produced by laser ablation of thin films of refractory metals. For contact mask of DOEs on molybdenum films with thickness of 40 nm using a laser ablation patterns recorded with elements of the picture width 0.25–0.3 µm. This is approximately 3 times smaller than the characteristic dimensions, obtained by thermochemical recording chromium films of the same thickness in the standard process. Reactive ion etching in an inductively coupled plasma through a mask was formed micro-relief height up to 300 nm in a quartz substrate. We have shown promising applications of thin films of molybdenum as a metallic mask in the formation of microrelief of DOEs.