We have fabricated two‐dimensional periodic arrays of circular openings with submicrometer diameter and spacing in thin photoresist films coated on top of glass substrates using a laser beam interferometric technique coupled with the simultaneous exposure and development (SED) method. The two‐dimensional grating masks generated in this way are comparable in quality to those generated by computer‐controlled scanning electron beam (CCSEB). Important advantages of the method described are that it is simple in both skill and instrumentation involved and that it is economic, fast, free of electron scattering and electrical charging problems, flexible, and able to generate large areas of uniform arrays. However, with this technique only periodic lattice structures can be generated. Possible new applications utilizing these structures are discussed.