• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2005.10a
• /
• pp.63-66
• /
• 2005

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) process at room temperature has been newly proposed in recent years to overcome the shape accuracy and sticking problem induced in a conventional NIL process. Success of the room temperature NIL relies on the accurate understand of the mechanical behavior of the polymer. Since a conventional NIL process has to heat a polymer above the glass transition temperature to deform the physical shape of the polymer with a mold pattern, viscoelastic property of polymer have major effect on the NIL process. However, rate dependent behavior of polymer is important in the room temperature NIL process because a mold with engraved patterns is rapidly pressed onto a substrate coated with the polymer by the hydraulic equipment. In this paper, finite element analysis of the room temperature NIL process is performed with considering the strain rate dependent behavior of the polymer. The analyses with the variation of imprinting speed and imprinting pattern are carried out in order to investigate the effect of such process parameters on the room temperature NIL process. The analyses results show that the deformed shape and imprint force is quite different with the variation of punch speed because the dynamic behavior of the polymer is considered with the rate dependent plasticity model. The results provide a guideline for the determination of process conditions in the room temperature NIL process.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.596-602
• /
• 2018

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is an emerging technology that enables cost-effective and high-throughput nanofabrication. In ultraviolet (UV) NIL, low-cost and high-speed production can be achieved using a non-vacuum environment at room temperature and low pressure. However, there are problems with the formation of bubble defects in such an environment. This paper investigates the shape of the mold cavity and the bubble defect formation in UV NIL in a non-vacuum environment. The bubble defect formation was simulated using two-dimensional flow analysis and the VOF method for commonly used cavity mold shapes (rectangular, elliptical, and triangular). The characteristics of the resist flow front and various contact angles were also analyzed. The shape of the mold cavity had a very significant effect on the bubble defect formation. For all cavity shapes, a smaller contact angle with the mold and larger contact angle with the substrate decreased the possibility of bubble defect formation. The elliptical shape was the most effective for preventing bubble defect formation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Technology of Plasticity Conference
• /
• 2006.05a
• /
• pp.109-112
• /
• 2006

A fluorine-doped diamond-like carbon (F-DLC) stamp which has high contact angle, high UV-transmittance and sufficient hardness, was fabricated using the following direct etching method: F-DLC is deposited on a quartz substrate using DC and RF magnetron sputtering, PMMA is spin coated and patterned using e-beam lithography and finally, $O_2$ plasma etching is performed to transfer the line patterns having 100 nm line width, 100 nm line space and 70 nm line depth on F-DLC. The optimum fluorine concentration was determined after performing several pre-experiments. The stamp was applied successfully to UV-NIL without being coated with an anti-adhesion layer.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.08a
• /
• pp.338-338
• /
• 2012

사파이어 ($Al_2O_3$)는 높은 밴드갭 에너지 (~19.5 eV)를 가진 물질로서 우수한 내마모성, 강도, 전기 절연성 및 안정한 화학적 특성을 갖고 발광다이오드 기판, 보석재료 등 각종 산업 및 기술적 분야에서 널리 사용되고 있다. 특히, 플립칩 발광다이오드 구조의 경우 광추출효율을 향상시키기 위해 높은 투과도를 갖는 사파이어 기판이 요구되어 왔으며, 지금까지 건식/습식식각방법을 이용한 사파이어 표면에 마이크로 크기의 심한 거칠기 또는 요철이 형성된 나노크기의 격자구조를 형성시키는 연구가 진행되어 오고 있다. 그 중, 나노 크기의 격자구조는 공기에서 반도체 기판까지 선형적인 유효굴절률 분포를 갖기 때문에 표면에서 생기는 Fresnel 반사 손실을 줄일 수 있다. 이러한 구조를 형성하기 위해서는 식각 마스크가 필요한데, 형성 방법으로 레이저 간섭 리소그래피, 전자빔 리소그래피, 나노임프린트 리소그래피 등이 있으나, 비싼 가격과 복잡한 공정 절차 등의 단점을 지니고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 식각 마스크 패턴을 위해, 보다 저렴하고 간단한 실리카 나노구 및 열적응집 금 나노 입자를 이용하였다. 양면 폴리싱 c-plane 사파이어 기판을 사용하였고, 단일 층의 주기적인 실리카 나노구를 기판 표면에 스핀코팅에 의해 도포한 후 유도결합플라즈마 식각 장비를 이용하여 식각하여 주기적인 패턴을 갖는 렌즈모양의 격자구조를 형성하였다. 그리고 주기적으로 형성된 격자 위에 열 증착기를 이용하여 금 박막을 증착한 후 급속열적어닐닝(rapid thermal annealing)을 이용하여 열처리함으로써 비주기적인 금 나노입자를 형성시켰다. 형성된 금 나노패턴을 이용하여 동일한 조건으로 식각함으로써 광대역 및 전방향성 높은 투과도를 갖는 원뿔 모양의 사파이어 나노구조를 제작하였다. 제작된 샘플의 패턴 및 식각 형상은 전자현미경을 사용하여 관찰하였으며, UV-vis-NIR 분광광도계 (spectrophotometer)를 사용하여 투과율을 측정하였다. 렌즈 모양 표면 위에 원뿔모양의 나노구조를 갖는 사파이어 기판은 일반적인 사파이어 기판보다 향상된 투과율 특성을 보였다.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
• /
• v.10 no.7
• /
• pp.604-610
• /
• 2004

Ultraviolet-nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) is a promising method for cost-effectively defining nanoscale structures at room temperature and low pressure. Since the resolution of transferred nanostructures depends strongly upon that of nanostamps, the nanostamp fabrication technology is a key technology to UV-NIL. In this paper, a $5\times5\times0.09$ in. quartz stamp whose critical dimension is 377 nm was fabricated using the etching process in which a Cr film was employed as a hard mask for transferring nanostructures onto the quartz plate. To effectively apply the fabricated 5-in. stamp to UV-NIL on a 4-in. Si wafer, we have proposed a new UV-NIL process using a multi-dispensing method as a way to supply resist on a wafer. Experiments have shown that the multi-dispensing method can enable UV-NIL using a large-area stamp.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.130-138
• /
• 2006

We have investigated pattern scaling down of silicon stamps through the oxidation technique, During oxidizing the silicon stamps, silicon dioxide that has 300 nm and 500 nm thickness was grown, and critical deformations were not observed in the patterns. There was positive effect to reduce size of patterns because vertical and horizontal patterns have different orientation. We achieved pattern reduction rate of $26\%$. In addition, the formation of polymer patterns had been investigated with varied temperature and pressure conditions to improve the filling characteristics of polymers during nanoimprint lithography when pattern sizes were few micrometers. In these varied conditions, polymers had been affected by free space compensation and elastic stress relaxation for filling the cavities. Based on the results, defect control which is an important issue in the nanoimprint lithography were facilitated.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.30-35
• /
• 2013

In order to increase cell efficiency in crystalline silicon solar cell, reduction of light reflection is one of the essential problem. Until now silicon wafer was textured by wet etching process which has random patterns along crystal orientation. In this study, high aspect ratio patterns are manufactured by nano imprint process and reflectance could be minimized under 1%. After that, screen printed solar cell was fabricated on the textured wafer and I-V characteristics was measured by solar simulator. Consequently cell efficiency of solar cell fabricated using the wafer textured by nano imprint process increased 1.15% than reference solar cell textured by wet etching. Internal quantum efficiency was increased in the range of IR wave length but decreased in the UV wavelength. In spite of improved result, optimization between nano imprinted pattern and solar cell process should be followed.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
• /
• 2008.11a
• /
• pp.1847-1850
• /
• 2008

The process conditions during ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) process such as temperature, stamping pressure, UV irradiation, etc. are effective factors for successful imprinting of complex and fine patterns. In this study, the effects of aluminum mold on the thermal characteristics of UV-NIL process were investigated through imprinting experiments and numerical simulations. The temperature of polymer resin on mold was measured to study thermal characteristics during UV curing. From the experimental and numerical results, the importance of curing reaction control for UV-NIL process was discussed for deformation characteristics.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2010.05a
• /
• pp.27.1-27.1
• /
• 2010

본 연구에서는 박막형 태양전지의 효율 향상을 위한 한 가지 방법으로써 박막 태양전지의 기판으로 사용되는 유리 표면위에 반사방지 기능을 갖는 미세 구조물을 형성하였다. 형성된 미세구조물은 가시광선 영역의 빛의 파장보다 작고 원뿔형 구조를 가지고 있어서 빛의 점진적인 굴절률 변화를 야기하며, 이러한 구조적 굴절률 변화에 의한 반사억제 효과를 확인 할 수 있었다. 이러한 반사방지효과는 곧 태양전지의 효율 향상으로 나타났다. 미세구조물 형성을 위한 방법으로는 나노임프린트 리소그래피 기술과 니켈 재질의 금속 몰드를 사용하였으며, 반사방지구조를 형성하기 위해서 열경화 방식의 임프린트 레진이 사용되었다.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.331-334
• /
• 2008

The replica of highly ordered nano-sphere array patterns were fabricated using hot embossing method. First, silica nano-sphere array on Si substrate was transferred to PVC film at $130^{\circ}C$ and 7 bar using hot embossing process. Then, silica nano-sphere array on PVC template was removed by soaking the PVC film in buffered oxide etcher. In order to form anti-stiction layer, the PVC template was coated with silicon dioxide layer and self-assembled monolayer. Through UV nanoimprint lithography with the fabricated flexible PVC template, highly ordered nano-sphere array pattern was imprinted on curved substrates with high fidelity.