Evaluation of Curing Characteristics in UV-NIL Resist

Abstract

Mechanical characteristics of UV curable resist for UV nanoimprint lithography are investigated using UV rheology meter. Modulations of visco-elatic properties and thickness shrinkages in typical resists are evaluated in variation of exposure UV intensity. The mechanical modulation speed of the resist depends on the UV intensity, which affects to throughput of UV nanoimprint lithography process. To handle the characteristics universally, effective conversion time is newly introduced, which fairly expresses the resist modifications.

Study of Swelling Behavior in ArF Resist during Development by the QCM Method (3) - Observations of Swelling Layer Elastic Modulus -

“…Impedance values during this process changed from 3000 ohms when the resin was in the liquid state to 10 ohms in the solid state. We used a viscosity meter to measure the viscosity coefficient of the same resist while exposing it to light [9][10]. In this experiment, the elastic modulus changed from 10 Pa in the liquid state to 10 7 Pa in the solid state.…”

UV-Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) Process Simulation

“…As the exposure time proceeds, the storage modulus G of the resist increases by conversion of the photo reactive group and the resist thickness decreases due to resist curing. They strongly depend on UV intensity but not dosage like conventional photo resists [11][12][13][14]. …”

“…In advance, we are now under development of numerical model abased on chemical reactions in polymerization process [14]. …”

Study on Curing Characteristic of UV Nanoimprint Resist

“…The UV resist is demanded high speed curing, lower shrinkage, sufficient rigidness and low adhesion property after UV curing. Evaluation and understanding of UV curing characteristics are indispensable for process design for UV-NIL and material optimizations [8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. We had been reported curing properties on typical resist and proposed physical modeling for process simulation in UV-NIL [15].…”