The Fabrication of Nanostructures on Polydimethylsiloxane by Laser Interference Lithography

Abstract

We report a method for fabricating periodic nanostructures on the surface of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using laser interference lithography. The wave-front splitting method was used for the system, as the period and duty cycle can be easily controlled. Indium tin oxide (ITO) glass reveals favorable characteristics for controlling the standing waves distributed in the vertical direction, and was selected as the rigid substrate for the curing of the PDMS prepolymer, photoresist spin coating, and exposure processes. Periodic nanostructures such as gratings, dot, and hole arrays were prepared. This efficient way of fabricating large area periodic nanoscale patterns will be useful for surface plasmonic resonance and wearable electronics.

Optical and Thermal Characteristics of Porous Anodic Aluminum Oxide for Photothermal Applications

“…(12) Furthermore, sub-wavelength tapered nanostructures have been integrated on a grating surface to provide adiabatic impedance matching in the form of a gradient-index medium, and the fabricated nanostructured grating suppressed reflection by two orders of magnitude over a broad range of wavelengths and incident angles. (13) There are several techniques for fabricating periodic nanoscale patterns, such as photolithography, (14)(15)(16) electron beam lithography, (17,18) use of a focused ion beam, (19,20) microcontact printing, (21,22) inductively coupled plasma-reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE), (23) and electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma etching. (24) Although these methods can be used to fabricate nanoscale patterns precisely, it is not easy to fabricate patterns on a large-area structure because the process is time-consuming and very expensive.…”

Periodic Microstructures Fabricated by Laser Interference with Subsequent Etching

“…Nowadays, laser interference has been demonstrated to be an effective method to fabricate periodic micro/nanostructures [ 25 , 26 ] on various materials, such as polymers [ 27 ], ZnS [ 28 ], and Si [ 29 ]. As for grating structures, there is no need to fabricate them using point-by-point scanning, so it saves the processing time.…”

Formation and Characterization of Hole Nanopattern on Photoresist Layer by Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscope

“…The attractiveness of the SPL approach is caused by the fact that these methods can successfully overcome the Rayleigh limit, as they operate in the near-field range. Different types of SPL techniques, such as atomic force microscope (AFM) [9,10,11,12,13], scanning tunneling microscope (STM) [14], and scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) [15,16,17,18] have been studied and modified, and their applicability for nanofabrication has been reported. The prime advantage of using the SPL technique is its ambient working conditions, as all these methods can be exercised in air medium and at room temperature, whereas techniques like electron beam lithography (EBL) should be performed in vacuum.…”

“…Among all the SPM techniques used for lithography, the most popular technique is SNOM, which was first introduced by Synge [25]. It is preferred mostly because it can be applied to existing resist techniques, and it also withstands the requirements of recently introduced novel materials [17,26]. Moreover, scanning near-field optical lithography (SNOL) also satisfies the increasing demand of inexpensive lab tools to prepare and manipulate nanostructures of dimensions smaller than 100 nm.…”

“…Near-field light, which is generated at the tip of the probe, is used for the exposure of photoresist during scanning. SNOL has been successfully used for the patterning of different organic materials like positive photoresist [27,28]; negative photoresist [29]; polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) resist [17,26]; conjugated polymers [16,30] and azopolymer films [31,32]; and inorganic materials like metals [33,34], H-passivated Si [35], etc.…”