Nanoimprint of large-area optical gratings on conventional photoresist using a telflon-coated nanoimprint mold

摘要

Nanoimprint Lithography is a promising high-throughput technology for the fabrication of optical nanostructures over large areas in the centimeter range. However, there are limitations (cost, proprietary and tool specific) of the commercial transfer resist. In this work, the photo-resist AZ1518 is investigated as a viable nanoimprint resist mask with a teflon-coated silicon mold. The results are comparable with a commercial nanoimprint resist. To our knowledge, the application of a conventional photoresist as the nanoimprint mask with teflon-coated mold is novel, providing a critical solution for cost-effective, flexible and high-throughput fabrication of optical nanostructures over large areas. Periodic gratings with lateral width of 100 nm and 200 nm pitch have been fabricated using this approach. The nanoimprint process parameters (pressure and temperature) are optimized to improve the release of the mold from the resist. In addition, the Teflon-coated mold improves the release process to avoid tearing of the mask.