Rapid fabrication of complex nanostructures using room-temperature ultrasonic nanoimprinting

Abstract

Despite its advantages of scalable process and cost-effectiveness, nanoimprinting faces challenges with imprinting hard materials (e.g., crystalline metals) at low/room temperatures, and with fabricating complex nanostructures rapidly (e.g., heterojunctions of metal and oxide). Herein, we report a room temperature ultrasonic nanoimprinting technique (named nanojackhammer) to address these challenges. Nanojackhammer capitalizes on the concentration of ultrasonic energy flow at nanoscale to shape bulk materials into nanostructures. Working at room temperature, nanojackhammer allows rapid fabrication of complex multi-compositional nanostructures made of virtually all solid materials regardless of their ductility, hardness, reactivity and melting points. Atomistic simulations reveal a unique alternating dislocation generation and recovery mechanism that significantly reduces the imprinting force under ultrasonic cyclic loading. As a proof-of-concept, a metal-oxide-metal plasmonic nanostructure with built-in nanogap is rapidly fabricated and employed for biosensing. As a fast, scalable, and cost-effective nanotechnology, nanojackhammer will enable various unique applications of complex nanostructures in optoelectronics, biosensing, catalysis and beyond.

Broadband Transparent Electrode in Visible/Near-Infrared Regions

“…Therefore, the MTE design would simulate more extensive applications such as fully transparent display screens, transparent fingerprint recognition, ultrahigh precision touch integrated screens, and so on. In terms of the fabrication for the transparent electrode, nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) technology, an effective method for manufacturing micronano structures, can be applied to nonplanar surfaces and meet the requirements for cylinder nanostructures without affecting the flatness and conductivity of the thin film. − In addition, it is also compatible with the standard CMOS technology, − enabling the possibility for practical realization of the MTE structure.…”

Nanoimprinting of Biomimetic Nanostructures

“…Figure 3 shows a photograph of the roll-to-plate UV-nanoimprint (R2P UV-NIL) tool at PROFACTOR. Cost-effectiveness and suitability for production of nanoimprinting has been addressed in many publications, e.g., [57][58][59][60][61].…”

Advanced unconventional techniques for sub‐100 nm nanopatterning

“…NIL 52,59 is a popular nanotechnology for fabricating sub‐10 nm patterns with high‐throughput at low cost 69,70,72,81,82 . It reproduces the pattern in a mold on the desired resist by aligned imprint and fidelity pattern transfer 71 (Figure 6A,D).…”