Easy mask-mold fabrication for combined nanoimprint and photolithography

Abstract

Fabrication of nanodot array molds by using an inorganic electron-beam resist and a postexposure bake Fabrication of 100 nm metal lines on flexible plastic substrate using ultraviolet curing nanoimprint lithography Hybrid transparent working stamps with both a surface relief and absorbing mask pattern were fabricated by replicating nanostructures in an Ormostamp film on prepatterned glass substrates. By using a combined nanoimprint and photolithography process, self-aligned mixed patterns of nanoand microstructures can be generated within one single resist layer. In this article the authors present a simple process based on the organic-inorganic hybrid polymer Ormostamp by replication on prepatterned Borofloat substrates. Using these working stamps, grating arrays with 35 nm half pitch were replicated in thermoplastic UV-curable resist. The method is easy to employ for generating mesas with nanostructures on top or the backfilling with microstructures in thermal nanoimprint lithography applications.

Complex 3D structures via hybrid processing of SU-8

“…Nanoimprint was combined with molecular weight selective thermal reflow to prepare sloped structures, again in PMMA [4]. The preparation of stamps for nanoimprint in SU-8 was demonstrated by combining thermal and UV nanoimprint [9] and by combining thermal nanoimprint with conventional photolithography [10]. Some of the techniques applied to prepare 3D structures have recently been reviewed [11].…”

Multilevel Hierarchical Topographies by Combined Photolithography and Nanoimprinting Processes To Create Surfaces with Controlled Wetting

“…The preparation of such hybrid mask-mold entails, however, a complex fabrication process of several steps. 28 Capillary force nanoimprinting has been combined with UV lithography and deep UV flood exposure by the group of Scheer to produce a series of 3D and multilevel structures. 29 Two-scale hierarchical structures combining different microand nanoscale structures have been demonstrated by a twostep temperature-directed capillary molding process 30 or twostep UV-assisted capillary force lithography.…”

“…This process involves the use of a hybrid mask-mold prepared on purpose including the nanoscale patterns and a metal mask layer. The preparation of such hybrid mask-mold entails, however, a complex fabrication process of several steps …”