A novel tool for frequency assisted thermal nanoimprint (T-NIL)

Andre Mayer; Khalid Dhima; Saskia Möllenbeck; Si Wang; Hella-Christin Scheer

doi:10.1117/12.918037

16 April 2012 A novel tool for frequency assisted thermal nanoimprint (T-NIL)

Andre Mayer, Khalid Dhima, Saskia Möllenbeck, Si Wang, Hella-Christin Scheer

Proceedings Volume 8352, 28th European Mask and Lithography Conference; 83520N (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.918037
Event: 28th European Mask and Lithography Conference (EMLC 2012), 2012, Dresden, Germany

Abstract

Based on the well-known fact that thermoplastic polymers feature a decrease of viscosity at increased frequency we propose a novel tool for frequency assisted thermal nanoimprint. The system is equipped with a stepper motor to drive into contact and to apply a static loading. In addition a piezo-unit is available that allows the superposition of the static load with a dynamic excitation. Detailed analysis of the frequency response of the overall system makes obvious that the frequency range available is limited not only by the frequency cut-off of the piezo amplifier, but also by its power or rather by the limited output current available. As a consequence the maximum frequency at full displacement is only 10 Hz. Nonetheless this should be enough to reduce the viscosity of typical imprint polymers at a low imprint temperature. The measurement system is sensitive enough to detect the small changes induced by the polymeric layer in the imprint stack, when the temperature is raised to typical imprint temperatures. Decay times for the residual force during imprint with a conventional imprint stack could be obtained from a relaxation experiment, where the piezos are used as step-displacement sources. The data are in excellent agreement with values calculated from dynamic rheological characterization experiments.

Citation Download Citation

Andre Mayer, Khalid Dhima, Saskia Möllenbeck, Si Wang, and Hella-Christin Scheer "A novel tool for frequency assisted thermal nanoimprint (T-NIL)", Proc. SPIE 8352, 28th European Mask and Lithography Conference, 83520N (16 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.918037

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