Lithography is crucial to semiconductor manufacturing, enabling the production of smaller, more powerful electronic devices. This review explores the evolution, principles, and advancements of key lithography techniques, including extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, electron beam lithography (EBL), X-ray lithography (XRL), ion beam lithography (IBL), and nanoimprint lithography (NIL). Each method is analyzed based on its working principles, resolution, resist materials, and applications. EUV lithography, with sub-10 nm resolution, is vital for extending Moore’s Law, leveraging high-NA optics and chemically amplified resists. EBL and IBL enable high-precision maskless patterning for prototyping but suffer from low throughput. XRL, using synchrotron radiation, achieves deep, high-resolution features, while NIL provides a cost-effective, high-throughput method for replicating nanostructures. Alignment marks play a key role in precise layer-to-layer registration, with innovations enhancing accuracy in advanced systems. The mask fabrication process is also examined, highlighting materials like molybdenum silicide for EUV and defect mitigation strategies such as automated inspection and repair. Despite challenges in resolution, defect control, and material innovation, lithography remains indispensable in semiconductor scaling, supporting applications in integrated circuits, photonics, and MEMS/NEMS devices. Various molecular strategies, mechanisms, and molecular dynamic simulations to overcome the fundamental lithographic limits are also highlighted in detail. This review offers insights into lithography’s present and future, aiding researchers in nanoscale manufacturing advancements.

The exponential surge in energy demand, driven by technological progress and evolving lifestyles, has precipitated a critical juncture. Energy sourcing now spans the spectrum from conventional to renewable alternatives. The limitations of conventional sources, entwined with their contributions to ecological degradation, deforestation, and the amplification of global warming and climate change, have come to the forefront. In response, renewable energy sources have surged into prominence, capturing both industrial and scientific attention. This comprehensive review navigates through the labyrinth of technological hurdles, breakthroughs, and heightened efficiencies that characterize diverse solar cell (SC) paradigms. Importantly, this exploration encompasses SC materials grouped under II–VI, III–V, and perovskite categories. While these materials bear utility, their intrinsic carcinogenic nature raises alarms regarding potential ecological and health impacts. The imperative to cultivate ecologically mindful alternatives reverberates as a persistent motif, underscored by a dedicated focus on the maturation of environmentally friendly carbon-based SCs. In this study, a meticulous comparative investigation of pivotal performance indicators such as V_oc, I_sc, fill-factor, and efficiency is meticulously conducted. This assessment spans an expansive array of materials and substrates utilized within the realm of SCs. In a broader context, the ultimate aspiration of this paper is to untie the intricate interaction of factors that govern the trajectory of solar cell performance. By doing so, it serves as an illuminating guidepost, steering the course of inquiry and advancement in the domain of sustainable energy technologies.