Photolithography

Description

A process for the duplication of photographic images. Photolithography was first done in France about 1852 by a printer Rosé-Joseph Lemercier. The initial process produced copies of paper negatives that were exposed onto a lithograph stone coated with a light-sensitive bichromated gelatin. Later developments allowed the image from prints to be transfered to stone or zinc plates. The photolithographic process was not widely used in the 19th century because it lacked the ability to produce half-tones. The technique was further altered to create offset lithography. In the late 20th century, photolithographic techniques were revived in the electronic industry to produce circuit patterns on silicon wafers.

Synonyms and Related Terms

fotolithografie (Ned.); photolithographie (Fr.); Fotolithografie (Deut.); fotolitografia (It., Esp.); fotolitografi (Sven.)

Resources and Citations

• Multilingual Glossary for Art Librarians at http://www.ifla.org/VII/s30/pub/mgl.htm

• The Dictionary of Art, Grove's Dictionaries Inc., New York, 1996