Fabrication of large scale bi-layer microstructures through electrochemical nanoimprinting

Abstract

Electrochemical nanoimprinting (ECNI) is a microstructure fabrication technique that combines metal-assisted chemical etching (MaCE) with nanoimprint lithography (NIL). A significant advantage of ECNI over traditional MaCE is the reusability of the stamp and excellent pattern consistency. This work studies the effects of various etchant components on etching results, discussing the associative parameters separately. Experimental results demonstrate that ECNI successfully fabricates bi-layer microstructures with flat surface morphology, where the second layer has a feature size of 40 μm and a depth of 12.5 μm. These findings highlight ECNI's potential as a scalable method for producing complex multi-layer structures, positioning it as a promising solution for large-scale microfabrication of semiconductors.