Rapid Nanoimprinting and Excellent Piezoresponse of Polymeric Ferroelectric Nanostructures

Abstract

Nanostructured ferroelectric patterns are promising for a wide range of applications, including sensing and actuation, data storage, photonics, spintronics, and energy conversion and storage. In this work, a rapid nanoimprinting technique is developed to pattern ferroelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) [P(VDF-TrFE)] copolymers in just 3 min, which exhibit excellent ferroelectricity and piezoresponse without any post-imprinting annealing. The effects of imprinting conditions have been thoroughly investigated, and the optimal imprinting parameters for excellent pattern transfer have been identified. The application of the imprinted polymeric patterns as a ferroelectric nonvolatile memory for data storage has also been demonstrated and discussed.

Improving information density in ferroelectric polymer films by using nanoimprinted gratings

“…This structuring is mostly accomplished by Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL). [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] In principle, the simpler approach would be to use simple P(VDF-TrFE) thin films, which can be easily processed by spin-cast techniques. However, P(VDF-TrFE) thin films typically exhibit roughness levels that make them not suitable for the development of nanocontrolled devices.…”

Ferroelectric polymer nanopillar arrays on flexible substrates by reverse nanoimprint lithography

“…This hydrophobic property is another advantage of using the PDMS soft molds compared to previous work with rigid molds that require surface pretreatment for smooth separation after imprinting. 5,18,32,48 The crystal structure of the P(VDF-TrFE) nanopillars imprinted on PET was characterized by out-of-plane X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD data of the nanopillar array sample shown in Fig.…”

“…Previous studies of ferroelectric polymers, like polyvinylidene-co-trifluoroethylene, P(VDF-TrFE), report results from conventional nanoimprint lithography (NIL) with highcost rigid molds at high pressures ranging from 20 bar to 120 bar and 130 to 150 1C to produce ferroelectric nanostructures on hard substrates. 5,7,[17][18][19][20][21] Application of conventional NIL to produce nanostructured films on flexible substrates has a number of drawbacks, such as mechanical and thermal deformation of the substrates, 22,23 poor adhesion, 24 and incompatibility with high temperatures. 25,26 These drawbacks lead to low throughput and poor pattern uniformity in large arrays.…”

Laser Fabrication of Polymer Ferroelectric Nanostructures for Nonvolatile Organic Memory Devices

“…Surface nanostructuring of polymers can be accomplished with a great variety of procedures, such as nanoimprint lithography (NIL) [16][17] , photolithography 18 , laser interference 19 and optical near-fields [20][21] . Also, laser induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS) can be prepared on polymer thin films [22][23] .…”