A solid immersion lens has higher magnification

Magnification

Magnification is the process of enlarging something only in appearance, not in physical size. This enlargement is quantified by a calculated number also called "magnification"...

 and higher numerical aperture

Numerical aperture

In optics, the numerical aperture of an optical system is a dimensionless number that characterizes the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light. By incorporating index of refraction in its definition, NA has the property that it is constant for a beam as it goes from one...

 than common lenses

Lens (optics)

A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...

 by filling the object space with a high-refractive-index solid material. SIL was originally developed for enhancing the spatial resolution of optical microscopy.
There are two types of SIL:

• Hemispherical SIL: Theoretically capable of increasing the numerical aperture of an optical system by , the index of refraction of the material of the lens.

• Weierstrass SIL (superhemispherical SIL or superSIL): the height of the truncated sphere is , where r is the radius of the spherical surface of the lens. Theoretically capable of increasing the numerical aperture of an optical system by .

Solid immersion lens microscopy

All optical microscopes are diffraction-limited

Diffraction-limited

The resolution of an optical imaging system — a microscope, telescope, or camera — can be limited by factors such as imperfections in the lenses or misalignment. However, there is a fundamental maximum to the resolution of any optical system which is due to diffraction...

 because of the wave nature of light. Current research focuses on techniques to go beyond this limit known as the Rayleigh criterion. The use of SIL can achieve spatial resolution better than the diffraction limit in air, for both far-field imaging and near-field imaging.

Optical data storage

Because SIL provides high spatial resolution, the spot size of laser

Laser

A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...

 beam through the SIL can be smaller than diffraction limit in air, and the density of the associated optical data storage can be increased.

Photolithography

Similar to immersion lithography

Immersion lithography

Immersion lithography is a photolithography resolution enhancement technique for manufacturing integrated circuits that replaces the usual air gap between the final lens and the wafer surface with a liquid medium that has a refractive index greater than one. The resolution is increased by a factor...

, the use of SIL can increase spatial resolution of projected photolithographic

Photolithography

Photolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...

 patterns, creating smaller components on wafers

Wafer (electronics)

A wafer is a thin slice of semiconductor material, such as a silicon crystal, used in the fabrication of integrated circuits and other microdevices...

.