Roll‐to‐Roll Hot Embossing of 1D and 2D Photonic Nanostructures

Abstract

Roll‐to‐roll hot embossing is exploited for the fabrication of 1D nanogratings and 2D nanopillar arrays. Critical structure diameters as low as 150 nm and distances down to 50 nm are replicated in a polystyrene foil using flexible nickel shims, which are made using electron beam lithography and subsequent electroplating. The high quality of the as‐fabricated structures is proven by their application in two key nanophotonic components. After evaporation of 250 nm of Alq3:DCM on 1D nanogratings using grating periods between 375 and 415 nm, we can realize tunable organic DFB lasers emitting between 604 and 665 nm. 2D nanopillar arrays are covered with a thermally evaporated Au layer and integrated in microfluidic chips for surface‐enhanced Raman measurements. High and homogeneous enhancement of the Raman signal is achieved using rhodamine 6G as exemplary analyte. For polystyrene nanopillar arrays with pillar diameters of 190 nm, a spacing of 50 nm, and a height of 100 mm coated with a 70 nm thick Au layer, an analytical enhancement factor of ≈4.3 × 104 is demonstrated. The presented work shows the versatility of roll‐to‐roll hot embossing for the low‐cost and large‐area fabrication of nanostructures.

Hot Embossing of Micro-Pyramids into Thermoset Thiol-Ene Film

“…A similar process of thermal embossing of a thin polymer film on a hard substrate, requiring a significant lateral flow for complete filling of the stamp cavities, is known as nanoimprint lithography (NIL) [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Scale-up development of hot embossing for large-area and high-throughput patterning led to the introduction of very an effective roll-to-roll imprint process [ 7 , 8 ]. Numerous applications of hot embossing include holography, optical waveguides, organic light-emitting diodes, nanophotonic metamaterials, thin film solar cells, microfluidics, biochips and so on [ 1 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”

Development and Application of Hot Embossing in Polymer Processing: A Review

“…Micro-injection molding, micro-extrusion technology, and template embossing (also known as "micro/nano-imprinting lithography") are the three main kinds of micro/nano-manufacturing technologies for polymer materials. Among them, template embossing methods can be further [83][84][85][86][87] divided into hot embossing and ultraviolet curing embossing. The processing temperature ranges and the advantages and disadvantages of the aforementioned methods are listed in Table 1.…”

A Self‐Assembly Method for Tunable and Scalable Nano‐Stamps: A Versatile Approach for Imprinting Nanostructures

“…Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is considered as an attractive solution for the fabrication of micro/nanostructures to enhance the performance of a wide variety of devices and materials, including flexible electronics (e.g., sensors, [1,2] solar cells, [2,3] and displays [4] ), surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates, [1,5] anticounterfeiting labels, [6,7] antibacterial coatings, [8] and optical films. [9][10][11][12] The progress is driven by the need for micro/nanostructured materials with low-cost and high throughput on different surfaces, including flexible and curved ones.…”