• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.7-15
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• 2005

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

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2012.05a
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• pp.81.1-81.1
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• 2012

나노임프린트 리소그라피(Nano-Imprint Lithography, NIL) 기술은 기판위의 resin을 나노구조물이 각인된 스탬프로 눌러서 나노구조물을 형성하는 기술로, 경제적이고 효과적으로 나노구조물을 제작할 수 있는 기술이다. 그중에서도 UV 기반의 나노임프린트(UV-NIL) 기술은 resin을 투명한 스탬프로 누른뒤 UV로 경화시켜 나노구조물을 형성하는 기술로써 고온, 고압($140{\sim}180^{\circ}C$, 10~30bar)이 필요한 가열식 나노임프린트 기술에 비해 상온, 상압($20^{\circ}C$, 1bar)에서도 구조물 형성이 가능하여 다층구조 형성에 적합하다. 연속적인 임프린팅 공정에 의해 resin이 quarz 스탬프에 잔류하여 패터닝에 결함을 유발하게 되므로 오염물을 제거하기 위한 세정공정이 필요하다. 하지만 UV에 의해 경화된 resin은 cross-linking을 형성하여 화학적인 내성이 증가하게 되므로 제거하기가 어렵다. 현재는 resin 제거를 위한 세정공정으로 SPM($H_2SO_4/H_2O_2$) 세정이 사용되고 있는데 세정시간이 길고 세정 후에 입자 또는 황 잔유물이 남으며 많은 유해용액 사용의 문제점이 있어 효과적으로 resin을 제거할 세정공정이 필요한 상황이다. 본 연구에서는 친환경적인 UV 세정 및 오존수 세정공정을 적용하여 경화된 resin을 제거하는 연구를 진행하였다. 실험샘플은 약 100nm 두께의 resin을 증착한 $1.5cm{\times}1.5cm$ $SiO_2$ 쿠폰 wafer를 사용하였으며, UV 및 오존수의 처리시간을 달리하여 resin 제거효율을 평가하였다. ATR-FTIR 장비를 사용하여 시간에 따른 resin의 두께를 측정한 결과, UV 세정으로 100nm 높이의 resin중에 80nm의 bulk resin이 단시간에 제거가 되었고 나머지 20nm의 resin thin film은 오존수 세정으로 쉽게 제거되는 것을 확인 하였다. 또한 표면에 남은 resin residue와 particle을 제거하기 위해서 SC-1 세정을 진행하였고 contact angle과 optical microscope 장비를 사용하여 resin이 모두 제거된 것을 확인하였다.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.433-437
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• 2007

A constant desire has been to fabricate nanopatterns for biochip and the Ultraviolet-nano imprint lithography (UV-NIL) is promising technology especially compared with thermal type in view of cost effectiveness. By using this method, nano-scale to micro-scale structures also called nanopore structures can be fabricated on large scale gold plate at normal conditions such as room temperature or low pressure which is not possible in thermal type lithography. One of the most important methods in fabricating biochips, immobilizing, was processed successfully by using this technology. That means immobilizing proteins only on the nanopore structures based on gold, not on hardened resin by UV is now possible by utilizing this method. So this selective nano-patterning process of protein can be useful method fabricating nanoscale protein chip.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.4178-4184
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• 2013

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is an emerging technology enabling cost-effective and high-throughput nanofabrication. Recently, the major trends of NIL are high throughput and large area patterning. UV curable type NIL (UV NIL) can be performed at room temperature and low pressure. And one advantage of UV NIL is that it does not need vacuum, which greatly simplifies tool construction, so that vacuum oprated high-precision stages and a large vacuum chamber are no longer needed. However, one key issue in non-vacuum environment is air bubble formation problem. Namely, can the air bubbles be completely removed from the resist. In this paper, the air bubbles formation by the method of droplet application in UV NIL with non-vacuum environment are experimentally studied. The effects of the volume of droplet and the number of dispensing points on air bubble formation are investigated.

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

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.65-70
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• 2023

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has attracted much attention due to its process simplicity, excellent patternability, process scalability, high productivity, and low processing cost for pattern formation. However, the pattern size that can be implemented on metal materials through conventional NIL technologies is generally limited to the micro level. Here, we introduce a novel hard imprint lithography method, extreme-pressure imprint lithography (EPIL), for the direct nano-to-microscale pattern formation on the surfaces of metal substrates with various thicknesses. The EPIL process allows reliable nanoscopic patterning on diverse surfaces, such as polymers, metals, and ceramics, without the use of ultraviolet (UV) light, laser, imprint resist, or electrical pulse. Micro/nano molds fabricated by laser micromachining and conventional photolithography are utilized for the nanopatterning of Al substrates through precise plastic deformation by applying high load or pressure at room temperature. We demonstrate micro/nanoscale pattern formation on the Al substrates with various thicknesses from 20 ㎛ to 100 mm. Moreover, we also show how to obtain controllable pattern structures on the surface of metallic materials via the versatile EPIL technique. We expect that this imprint lithography-based new approach will be applied to other emerging nanofabrication methods for various device applications with complex geometries on the surface of metallic materials.