Development of nanoimprint lithography and its applications in device fabrication.

摘要

Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) technique has attracted widespread interest in both academic research and industrial development since its invention in 1995. It is capable of replicating sub-10 nm features and has high throughput, and it only requires very simple equipment setup. This dissertation is focused on the further advancing of the NIL technology and its applications in micro- and nano-scale device fabrications.; The first main task of this dissertation is to review the limitations in conventional NIL and to investigate possible routes to overcome these limitations. Several innovations have been achieved. First, a new UV-curable liquid resist based on cationic polymerization of silicone epoxies is developed for room temperature and low pressure NIL. Second, a Hybrid-Mask-Mold method is invented for removing the residual layer in conventional NIL, and a Combined-Nanoimprint-and-Photolithography technique is developed for patterning large and nano-scale structures in one step. Lastly, a reversal imprinting over topography technique is described for patterning non-flat substrate and building up complex three-dimensional polymer structures.; The second main task of this dissertation is to apply the imprinting technique to the fabrications of nanofluidic and organic opto-electronic devices. Sub-100 nm cross-sectional dimension nanofluidic channels have been achieved by a modified NIL technique. Nearly 100% stretching of DNA molecules in such nano-channels were demonstrated. NIL was also employed in fabricating pixel arrays in passive polymers, which served as templates for high-resolution organic light-emitting diode array fabrication. Pixels as small as 2 microns are successfully light up.