This article describes a process that consists of embossing a bas-relief pattern into the surface of a layer of photoresist and flood illuminating the embossed resist; this process uses the topography of the resist to generate a pattern of optical intensity inside the resist layer. Development of embossed, illuminated (lambda=365-436 nm) photoresist yields structures as small as 70 nm. Numerical solutions of the Fresnel integral are used to calculate the pattern of intensity of light in the photoresist layer. Numeric simulation of a nondiffusion-limited development process results in theoretical structures that correlate well with the structures generated experimentally. (c) 2005 American Vacuum Society.