Multi-step proportional miniaturization to sub-micron dimensions using pre-stressed polymer films

Sayed, Shady; Selvaganapathy, P. Ravi

doi:10.1039/d0na00785d

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Due to the absence of material in the spaces between the lines, the spacing is compressed and shrinks more than the line width. The partial release of the stress during hot embossing also explains why the hot embossed film shrinks by 50% overall instead of 60% with is typical for pristine pre-stressed PS films [21,24,25]. Despite the different shrinking ratios of the spacing and line width, highly uniform patterns with reduced dimensions were fabricated with high reproducibility.…”

Section: Scalability Of the Miniaturization Approach And Fabrication ...mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Using RIE, the patterned area is physically removed, thus the polymer does not return to the original shape after shrinking and finally the height of pattern increases. However, the feature dimensions achievable after miniaturization are limited to few microns [19,20] and in recent work to sub-micron [21]. However, this method is not suitable for sub 500 nm resolution features due to the rough surface generated from RIE process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Constrained shrinking of nanoimprinted pre-stressed polymer films to achieve programmable, high-resolution, miniaturized nanopatterns

Sayed¹,

Selvaganapathy²

2021

Nanotechnology

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Nanoimprint lithography is an emerging technology to form patterns and features in the nanoscale. Production of nanoscale patterns is challenging particularly in the sub-50 nm range. Pre-stressed polymer films with embedded microscale pattern can be miniaturized by shrinking induced due to thermal stress release. However, when pre-stressed films are thermally nanoimprinted with sub-micron features and shruken, they lose all the topographical features due to material recovery. Here we report a new approach that prevents recovery and allows retention of shrunken patterns even at the scale of <50 nm. We have discovered that when the shrinking process is mechanically constrained in one direction, the thermal treatment only relieves the stress in the orthogonal direction leading to a uniaxial shrinkage in that direction while preserving the topographical features. A second step, with the constraint in the orthogonal direction leads to biaxial shrinkage and preservation of all of the topographical features. This new technique can produce well defined and high resolution nanostructures at dimensions below 50 nm. The process is programmable and the thermal treatment can be tuned to shrink features to various dimension below the original imprint which we use to produce tunable and gradient plasmonic structures.

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Section: Scalability Of the Miniaturization Approach And Fabrication ...mentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constrained shrinking of nanoimprinted pre-stressed polymer films to achieve programmable, high-resolution, miniaturized nanopatterns

Sayed¹,

Selvaganapathy²

2021

Nanotechnology

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“…Such selfassembled photonic crystals have also been used for displays (figure 123) among other applications and can also be combined with different materials/approaches to extend their domain of application into areas such as plasmonics and metamaterials [506,507], and often appear in naature including butterfly wings and anti-reflective moth eye coatings, which form part of a broad class of biologically-inspired structures and applications that includes superhydrophobic/philic surfaces and gecko coatings. Nanoscale patterning and self-assembly techniques are utilized for key steps in the miniaturization of ICs, which help to improve performance and boost the density of transistors on chips [509,510]. FinFETs have been of great importance for continued of electronic devices [490,511].…”

Section: Natural Lithography/nanoscale Patterningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale self-assembly: concepts, applications and challenges

2022

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Self-assembly offers unique possibilities for fabricating nanostructures, with different morphologies and properties, typically from vapor or liquid phase precursors. Molecular units, nanoparticles, biological molecules and other discrete elements can spontaneously organise or form via interactions at the nanoscale. Currently, nanoscale self-assembly finds applications in a wide variety of areas including carbon nanomaterials and semiconductor nanowires, semiconductor heterojunctions and superlattices, the deposition of quantum dots, drug delivery, such as mRNA-based vaccines, and modern integrated circuits and nanoelectronics, to name a few. Recent advancements in drug delivery, silicon nanoelectronics, lasers and nanotechnology in general, owing to nanoscale self-assembly, coupled with its versatility, simplicity and scalability, have highlighted its importance and potential for fabricating more complex nanostructures with advanced functionalities in the future. This review aims to provide readers with concise information about the basic concepts of nanoscale self-assembly, its applications to date, and future outlook. First, an overview of various self-assembly techniques such as vapour deposition, colloidal growth, molecular self-assembly and directed self-assembly/hybrid approaches are discussed. Applications in diverse fields involving specific examples of nanoscale self-assembly then highlight the state of the art and finally, the future outlook for nanoscale self-assembly and potential for more complex nanomaterial assemblies in the future as technological functionality increases.

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“…As a result, this approach allows shrinking of the film and hence reducing the size of the imprinted patterns on that shrinkable film 12 . The common patterning methods that have been used to pattern shrinkable films include printing 13 – 15 , reactive ion etching (RIE) 16 , 17 , and hot embossing 18 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

High-resolution fabrication of nanopatterns by multistep iterative miniaturization of hot-embossed prestressed polymer films and constrained shrinking

Sayed

Selvaganapathy

2022

Microsyst Nanoeng

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The fabrication of nanostructures and nanopatterns is of crucial importance in microelectronics, nanofluidics, and the manufacture of biomedical devices and biosensors. However, the creation of nanopatterns by means of conventional nanofabrication techniques such as electron beam lithography is expensive and time-consuming. Here, we develop a multistep miniaturization approach using prestressed polymer films to generate nanopatterns from microscale patterns without the need of complex nanolithography methods. Prestressed polymer films have been used as a miniaturization technique to fabricate features with a smaller size than the initial imprinted features. However, the height of the imprinted features is significantly reduced after the thermal shrinking of the prestressed films due to the shape memory effect of the polymer, and as a result, the topographical features tend to disappear after shrinking. We have developed a miniaturization approach that controls the material flow and maintains the shrunken patterns by applying mechanical constraints during the shrinking process. The combination of hot embossing and constrained shrinking makes it possible to reduce the size of the initial imprinted features even to the nanoscale. The developed multistep miniaturization approach allows using the shrunken pattern as a master for a subsequent miniaturization cycle. Well-defined patterns as small as 100 nm are fabricated, showing a 10-fold reduction in size from the original master. The developed approach also allows the transfer of the shrunken polymeric patterns to a silicon substrate, which can be used as a functional substrate for many applications or directly as a master for nanoimprint lithography.

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Multi-step proportional miniaturization to sub-micron dimensions using pre-stressed polymer films

Abstract: The ability to define patterns and fabricate structures at the nanoscale in a scalable manner is crucial not only in integrated circuit fabrication but also in fabrication of nanofluidic devices...

Cited by 4 publications

References 16 publications

Constrained shrinking of nanoimprinted pre-stressed polymer films to achieve programmable, high-resolution, miniaturized nanopatterns

Constrained shrinking of nanoimprinted pre-stressed polymer films to achieve programmable, high-resolution, miniaturized nanopatterns

Nanoscale self-assembly: concepts, applications and challenges

High-resolution fabrication of nanopatterns by multistep iterative miniaturization of hot-embossed prestressed polymer films and constrained shrinking

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