Nanoimprint lithography, a high-throughput, low-cost, non conventional lithographic method proposed and demonstrated recently, has been developed and investigated further. Nanoimprint lithography has demonstrated 25 nm feature size, 70 nm pitch, vertical and smooth sidewalls, and nearly 90° corners. Further experimental study indicates that the ultimate resolution of nanoimprint lithography could be sub-10 nm, the imprint process is repeatable, and the mold is durable. In addition, uniformity over a 15 mm by 18 mm area was demonstrated and the uniformity area can be much larger if a better designed press is used. Nanoimprint lithography over a nonflat surface has also been achieved.
Principles Of Nanoimprint Lithography:
Nanoimprint Lithography or NIL is a process used to fabricate nanoscale patterns typically used in the areas of electronics, optics, photonics or biology. It creates patterns by mechanically deforming an imprint resist that is typically made from a monomer or polymer and cured using UV light. The nanoimprint lithograpy process is characterized by low cost, high throughput and high resolution and is a much simpler process than its rival optical lithography.
Nanoimprint lithography has two basic steps . The first is the imprint step in which a mold with nanostructures on its surface is pressed into a thin resist cast on a substrate, followed by removal of the mold. This step duplicates the nanostructures on the mold in the resist film. In other words, the imprint step creates a thickness contrast pattern in the resist. The second step is the pattern transfer where an anisotropic etching process, such as reactive ion etching ~RIE!, is used to remove the residual resist in the compressed area. This step transfers the thickness contrast pattern into the entire resist .
NILT offers UV and thermal nanoimprint lithography and hot-embossing services based on commercially available nanoimprint lithography tools. Imprinting is offered on any substrate type and into any polymer material required.
Typical substrate types are Silicon, Fused Silica, III-V materials and polymer sheets and typical imprint polymers are PMMA, COC, COP, PC and PET. If required, NILT also offers pre and post processing of the substrates.