Cross-Linked and Chemically Functionalized Polymer Supports by Reactive Reversal Nanoimprint Lithography

Abstract

A new format of polymer support having cross-linked polymeric micro- and nanoarrays has been fabricated via reactive reversal nanoimprint lithography. Reactive reversal nanoimprint lithography is a relatively simple method to imprint highly cross-linked and chemically tunable polymers. An array of chloromethyl-functionalized cross-linked polystyrene has been imprinted on hard (silicon) and soft (polymer) substrates, and a model esterification reaction is demonstrated. The imprints have been found to be relatively stable under both static and dynamic stability tests carried out in various organic solvents. The chemical functionality is evenly distributed over the imprinted array. This method of fabricating polymer supports offers a high degree of freedom in terms of the choice of chemical functionality, the types of polymer matrix, and the size of the polymer support. The functional polymer support has potential applications for chemical and biological assays.

Miniaturization of Surface Patterns by Combination of Contact Etching Lithography and Multi-step Shrinking of Stretched Polymer Films

“…Whitesides et al have reported the ''soft-lithography'' 1 including micro-contact printing (mCP), 2 which uses a silicone rubber stamp and a thiol ink to copy the micro-structures onto gold substrates, as a novel fabrication method of micro-pattens without elaborate multistep processes. Nanoimprint lithography is also applied to fabricate micro and nanopatterns by molding the patterned template on the surface of polymer materials 3 or cross-linked resins. 4 Soft-lithography and nanoimprint lithography are basically fabricated by photolithography, thus, the size of these templates was also limited by the photolithography itself.…”

Recent Development and Applications of Nanoimprint Technology

“…Reversal nanoimprint is one of such techniques. [26][27][28][29] In reversal nanoimprint, the resist film is coated on top of the mold and then transfer-bonded to a substrate. However, placing a polymer film on top of a surfactant-coated mold is not a trivial task because conventional techniques such as spin-coating are seldom successful.…”

Selective Growth of Silver Nanoparticle Arrays on Nanoimprinted Sol–Gel Silica Patterns

“…However, the nanoimprint method always leaves an undesired residual layer that lowers the selectivity of self-assembly. 19,20 This residual layer is usually removed using either solvent etching or reactive ion etching such as oxygen plasma or reactive ion beam. However, those processes may damage organic layers and introduce defects.…”

“…For example, arrays of nanoparticle pattern have been demonstrated using nanoimprinted layer and self-assembly of nanoparticle. , Using this approach, various nanoscale features can be produced by carefully controlled nanoimprint process followed by self-assembly. , These methods are accurate, fast, and cost-effective, as the stamp can be reused. However, the nanoimprint method always leaves an undesired residual layer that lowers the selectivity of self-assembly. , This residual layer is usually removed using either solvent etching or reactive ion etching such as oxygen plasma or reactive ion beam. However, those processes may damage organic layers and introduce defects .…”