Innovative and Tailor-made Resist and Working Stamp Materials for Advancing NIL-based Production Technology

Abstract

As a new manufacturing technique based on replication of surface topographies, nanoimprint lithography makes specific demands on materials used as resists for pattern transfer, as molds during replication or as functional materials for permanent application. Thus, highly specialized polymer solutions play a key role for the innovations in nanoimprint-related production technology where a high-throughput and low-cost nanolithography step is performed. In this contribution, recent material innovations at micro resist technology GmbH are reviewed with focus on OrmoStamp ® as versatile working stamp material with superior mold properties and its unique applicability to various nanoimprint processes. It is shown by the example of multidimensional nanofluidic devices how tailor-made materials facilitate mass production of innovative applications using nanoimprint lithography.

Bio-inspired 3D funnel structures made by grayscale electron-beam patterning and selective topography equilibration

“…Basically, the denticles comprise height-gradients in x-and y-direction over different length-scales. Previous work showed the successful transformation of stepped structures into smooth height-gradients using the TASTE process [10,9]. However, there gradients were only considered on one length-scale.…”

“…This mainly involves electron beam grayscale lithography and thermoplastic polymer reflow. The new contribution of this work is the realization of ultra-smooth heightgradients in two directions in difference to other work on tapered structures with a height-gradient only in one direction [8,9].…”

UV-curable hybrid polymers for optical applications: technical challenges, industrial solutions, and future developments

“…For an industrial production environment with focus on easy handling, high yield and constant performance, the technical compatibility to the various micro-and nanofabrication technologies of the polymers becomes a key aspect to be considered for the development and supply of advanced polymer materials. In addition to conventional UV lithography, also (nano)imprinting and ink-jet printing have been established as innovative alternatives for direct patterning of micro-optical components and devices [8][9][10] . Upon variation of precursors, components and synthesis parameters, the properties of the materials can be adapted to meet specifications as required for their use in manifold fields of application.…”

“…In contrast, OrmoCore and OrmoClad have been developed as waveguiding materials due to their low optical loss [12] . Furthermore, OrmoStamp ® can be used for the fabrication of transparent working stamps with optimized releaseproperties in thermal and UV-based nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and therefore can serve as cost efficient alternative to quartz stamps [8] . This allows NIL to be employed for the replication of optical micro-and nanopattern in hybrid polymers such as OrmoComp ® or OrmoCore for a variety of applications, e.g.…”

A nanochannel through a plasmonic antenna gap: an integrated device for single particle counting

“…We have developed a unique process for device fabrication, compatible with mass production. The multilevel, multidimensional channels are patterned in a UV-curable polymer 20,21 in a single, 30 second long, imprinting step 22 by direct UV nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) 23 (Fig. 2(i)).…”