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We consider the fabrication of high-quality interferogram-type diffractive optical elements with conventional photolithographic techniques and compare the results with those achievable with electron-beam lithography. The fringes associated with the phase transfer function of the binary phase holographic interferogram are approximated with rectangles, which can be realized at submicron accuracy using a pattern generator and step-and-repeat camera. The effects of the rectangle quantization are analyzed both numerically and experimentally with the aid of diffraction patterns produced by simple focusing elements. Both resolution and diffraction efficiency of the best holograms approach their theoretical values.