Analysis of polymer viscoelastic properties based on compressive creep tests during hot embossing for two‐dimensional polyethylene terephthalate nanochannels

Abstract

Hot embossing is an emerging technology, which enables cost‐effective and high‐productivity nanofabrication. It is important to optimize the processing parameters to achieve high replication accuracy nanostructure fabrication. In this article, to reveal the interrelationship between the hot embossing conditions and replication accuracy of two‐dimensional (2D) polyethylene terephthalate (PET) nanochannels, the numerical simulations were conducted by using the generalized Maxwell model. The constants of the generalized Maxwell model were calculated by a newly established fitting formula based on experimental compressive creep curves rather than tensile stress relaxation curves. Replication accuracy of 2D PET nanochannels was evaluated by a method based on weighted averages. Orthogonal method was employed during numerical simulations to optimize the hot embossing process. Under optimized hot embossing parameters, 2D PET nanochannels, ∼80 nm wide, 250 nm deep and 4 mm long, were precision‐imprinted into a PET sheet. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2398–2406, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers

Fabrication of two dimensional polyethylene terephthalate nanofluidic chip using hot embossing and thermal bonding technique

“…48 The viscoelastic polymer flows less easily into the cavity of the nano-mold than into the cavity of the micro-mold due to the effect of friction and surface tension. 42 Higher pressure and temperature are required for the polymer to flow into the cavity of the nano-mold.…”

“…The material parameters used for numerical simulation can be found in our previous work. 42 In order to investigate the influence of the hot embossing parameters on the deformation of PET substrate, the replication precision of 2D PET nanochannels, RP, can be defined as shown in Fig. 4 and Eq.…”

Development and Application of Hot Embossing in Polymer Processing: A Review

“…The structural damages can be predicted using this software. Meanwhile, the processing parameters during the demolding step can also be optimized 80,[141][142][143][144][145][146][147] to reduce the possible damages caused by the demolding force. The simulation methodology of macroscopic simulations can be summarized as follows:…”

Effect of temperature on the SU‐8 photoresist filling behavior during thermal nanoimprinting

“…Therefore, it is essential to study the polymer filling behavior during thermal imprinting. Cheng et al [ 23 ] and Yin et al [ 24,25 ] established a new fitting formula based on the generalized Maxwell model for hot embossing processes, and calculated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and methyl methacrylate (PMMA) material parameters by using the fitting formula. They also analyzed the replication accuracy of PET and PMMA nanochannel under different embossing conditions by numerical simulations.…”