Nanoimprinted passive optical devices

Seekamp, J.; Zankovych, S.; Helfer, Anke; Maury, Pascale; Torres, C. M. Sotomayor; Bottger, G. T.; Liguda, C.; Eich, Manfred; Heidari, Babak; Montelius, Lars; Ahopelto, Jouni

doi:10.1088/0957-4484/13/5/307

Cited by 59 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The NIL technique has been used to fabricate polymer based microfluidic devices 16 and passive optical components. 17 As a proof of concept we present a polymer microcavity dye laser fabricated by NIL. The laser design is based on guiding of the laser light in a thin film of the thermoplastic polymer poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) doped with the laser dye Rhodamine 6G ClO 4 , placed on a SiO 2 substrate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solid state microcavity dye lasers fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

Nilsson

Nielsen

2004

Review of Scientific Instruments

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We present a solid state polymer microcavity dye laser, fabricated by thermal nanoimprint lithography (NIL) in a dye-doped thermoplast. The thermoplast poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) is used due to its high transparency in the visible range and its robustness to laser radiation. The laser dye is Rhodamine 6G ClO 4 . This dye is shown to withstand temperatures up to 240°C without bleaching, which makes it compatible with the thermal nanoimprint lithography process. The 1.55 m thick dye-doped PMMA devices are fabricated on a SiO 2 substrate, yielding planar waveguiding in the dye-doped PMMA with two propagating TE-TM modes. The laser cavity has the lateral shape of a trapezoid, supporting lasing modes by reflection on the vertical cavity walls. The solid polymer dye lasers emit laterally through one of the vertical cavity walls, when pumped optically through the top surface by means of a frequency doubled, pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Lasing in the wavelength region from 560 to 570 nm is observed from a laser with a side-length of 50 m. In this proof of concept, the lasers are multimode with a mode wavelength separation of approximately 1.6 nm, as determined by the waveguide propagation constant(s) and cavity dimensions. The stamps used in this work were fabricated by UV-lithography, limiting the lateral dimensional control of the devices. The resolution of NIL is ultimately limited by the quality of the stamps. Using electron beam lithography for stamp fabrication, the NIL process presented here offers the possibility for adding mode-selecting elements, e.g., diffractive-or sub-wavelength optical elements.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solid state microcavity dye lasers fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

Nilsson

Nielsen

2004

Review of Scientific Instruments

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“…While the abovementioned methods cannot achieve ultrafine features (a few lm's down to ∼ 100 nm) in high aerial density and good reproducibility, nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) allows easy fabrication of precise nanoscale structures. NIL has been applied for nanopatterning in various fields such as biological nanostructures, [21] nanophotonic devices, [22,23] organic electronics, [24,25] and the patterning of magnetic materials. [26] Especially, metal nanopatterning via nanoimprinting is widely employed in nanoscale electronics and biosensing platforms.…”

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confidence: 99%

Nanoscale Patterning and Electronics on Flexible Substrate by Direct Nanoimprinting of Metallic Nanoparticles

et al. 2008

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Recent years have witnessed an expanding interest in the application of flexible polymer materials (e.g., polyimide, polyester, etc.) as the substrates for electronic and display devices. These applications include flexible organic light-emitting displays, [1,2] thin film transistors, [3][4][5] sensors, [6,7] and polymer MEMS. [8,9] The advantages of polymer-based materials are their mechanical flexibility, light weight, enhanced durability, and low cost compared with rigid materials (such as silicon and quartz). However, it can be difficult to integrate polymers into an integrated circuit (IC) microfabrication process due to their low thermal stability (low melting and low glass transition temperatures) and solvent susceptibility. In practice, conventional IC fabrication processes are subject to limitations, in that they are multi-step, involve high processing temperatures, caustic baths and strong solvents. In order to address the current problems of microfabrication on flexible substrate, many alternative approaches to conventional photolithography-based process have been introduced by a number of researchers. These include microcontact printing (lCP) combined with metal etching, [10] electroless plating, [11] electropolymerization, [12] and direct metal layer transfer [13] for the microscale metal patterning on flexible substrates. Stencil lithography [14] was mainly applied for dielectric layer patterning on polymer substrates for the formation of electrical capacitors [15,16] due to its limited resolution. Inkjet printing was used for a drop-on-demand patterning of conductive polymer PEDOT [17] and gold [18] layers for drain-source and gate electrodes. However, its best resolution is 20-50 lm [19,20] limited by the nozzle diameter, the statistical variation of the droplet flight, and spreading on the substrate. Organic semiconducting materials are being widely used as semiconducting layers in flexible electronics due to their costeffectiveness, mechanical flexibility, and ease of application via specific chemical modification. However, further channel size down-scaling is essential for better performance of organic field effect transistor due to the lower carrier mobility of the organic semiconducting materials. While the abovementioned methods cannot achieve ultrafine features (a few lm's down to ∼ 100 nm) in high aerial density and good reproducibility, nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) allows easy fabrication of precise nanoscale structures. NIL has been applied for nanopatterning in various fields such as biological nanostructures, [21] nanophotonic devices, [22,23] organic electronics, [24,25] and the patterning of magnetic materials. [26] Especially, metal nanopatterning via nanoimprinting is widely employed in nanoscale electronics and biosensing platforms. However, metal nanoimprinting has been typically an indirect process where a polymer (e.g., PMMA) pattern is first created by nanoimprinting, and then used as a mask for metal film etching or metal lift-off process. [27] This involves multiple and ...

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“…Photodetectors, compact disks, magnetic disks and microfluidic channels have been successfully fabricated by NIL. [3][4][5][6][7][8] The accuracy of replication depends largely on the properties of the mold (or stamp) which needs to be mechanically, chemically, and thermally stable to resist pressures of several tens of bar at temperatures above 170°C. Molds are often produced from silicon, fused silica (quartz) or nickel, materials in which small features can be obtained by well-established methods such as optical lithography, etching and electrodeposition processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High‐Resolution Nanoimprinting with a Robust and Reusable Polymer Mold

Barbero

Saifullah

Hoffmann

et al. 2007

Adv Funct Materials

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High temperature nanoimprinting of viscous polymers which are glassy at room temperature is usually performed using brittle and expensive molds made of inorganic materials. As a replacement, soft molds made of plastics or elastomers have been used because of their low cost and ease of fabrication. However, the deformation of polymer molds under pressure remains a major issue which limits their resolution in high temperature nanoimprinting. Moreover, the replicated structures are often broken or lack definition due to sticking of the embossed polymer to the mold. We report a method for imprinting fine, densely packed nanostructures down to 12 nm into a wide range of technologically important polymers using a flexible and robust mold made from ethylene(tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE). The high resolution achieved is due to the mold's mechanical stability and resistance to distortion at high pressures and high temperatures. The flexibility and low surface energy of ETFE provide a clean mold release without fracture or deformation of the embossed structures. Multiple imprinting and patterning on large areas is also made possible because of the good conformal contact and low‐adhesion of the ETFE mold. Finally, this simple and inexpensive method allows reproduction of the stamps from one single master, thus providing an economical alternative to expensive and brittle inorganic materials.

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Nanoimprinted passive optical devices

Cited by 59 publications

References 13 publications

Solid state microcavity dye lasers fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

Solid state microcavity dye lasers fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

Nanoscale Patterning and Electronics on Flexible Substrate by Direct Nanoimprinting of Metallic Nanoparticles

High‐Resolution Nanoimprinting with a Robust and Reusable Polymer Mold

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