• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.225-230
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• 2006

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a novel method of fabricating nanometer scale patterns. It is a simple process with low cost, high throughput and resolution. NIL creates patterns by mechanical deformation of an imprint resist and physical contact process. The imprint resist is typically a monomer or polymer formulation that is cured by heat or UV light during the imprinting process. Stiction between the resist and the stamp is resulted from this physical contact process. Stiction issue is more important in the stamps including narrow pattern size and wide area. Therefore, the antistiction layer coating is very effective to prevent this problem and ensure successful NIL. In this paper, an antistiction layer was deposited and characterized by PECVD (plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition) method for metal stamps. Deposition rates of an antistiction layer on Si and Ni substrates were in proportion to deposited time and 3.4 nm/min and 2.5 nm/min, respectively. A 50 nm thick antistiction layer showed 90% relative transmittance at 365 nm wavelength. Contact angle result showed good hydrophobicity over 105 degree. $CF_2$ and $CF_3$ peaks were founded in ATR-FTIR analysis. The thicknesses and the contact angle of a 50 nm thick antistiction film were slightly changed during chemical resistance test using acetone and sulfuric acid. To evaluate the deposited antistiction layer, a 50 nm thick film was coated on a stainless steel stamp made by wet etching process. A PMMA substrate was successfully imprinting without pattern degradations by the stainless steel stamp with an antistiction layer. The test result shows that antistiction layer coating is very effective for NIL.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.99-103
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• 2006

A tunable wavelength filter was proposed and demonstrated by using the UV nanoimprint technique. It consists of a Bragg grating in polymer waveguides and a heating electrode. The manufacturing of the grating was substantially simplified with the introduction of a smart imprint stamp containing a waveguide pattern integrated with the grating pattern. The center wavelength of the filter was successfully tuned by taking advantage of the thermooptic effect in polymers, which was induced by supplying electrical power to the electrode. For the fabricated device, a transmission dip of ${\~}$15 dB and a 3-dB bandwidth of 0.8 nm were obtained at the Bragg wavelength of ${\~}$l560 nm. The achieved thermooptic tuning efficiency was ${\~}$0.28 nm/mW, while the center wavelength was shifted from 1560 nm to 1558 nm with the electrical power consumption of 7 mW.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.305-313
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• 2004

A vacuum pressure-difference technique for making a nano-precision replica is investigated for various applications. Master patterns for replication were fabricated using a nano-replication printing (nRP) process. In the nRP process, any picture and pattern can be replicated from a bitmap figure file in the range of several micrometers with resolution of 200nm. A liquid-state monomer is solidified by two-photon absorption (TPA) induced by a femto-second laser according to a voxel matrix scanning. After polymerization, the remaining monomers were removed simply by using ethanol droplets. And then, a gold metal layer of about 30nm thickness was deposited on the fabricated master patterns prior to polydimethylsiloxane molding for preventing bonding between the master and the polydimethylsiloxane mold. A few gold particles attached on the polydimethylsiloxane stamp during detaching process were removed by a gold selecting etchant. After fabricating the polydimethylsiloxane mold, a nano-precision polydimethylsiloxane replica was reproduced. More precise replica was produced by the vacuum pressure-difference technique that is proposed in this paper. Through this study, direct patterning on a glass plate, replicating a polydimethylsiloxane mold, and reproducing polydimethylsiloxane replica are demonstrated with a vacuum pressure-difference technique for various micro/nano-applications.

• 한국전산유체공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.04a
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• pp.153-158
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• 2007

Since the introduction of Nanoimprint in the mid-1990s, Nanoimprint lithography, a low-cost, non-convential method, has been the dominant lithography technology that guarantees high-throughput patterning of nanostructures. Based on the mechanical embossing mechanism, Nanoimprint lithography creates the nanopatterns on the polymer material cast on the substrate. In essence, the process needs nanofabrication equipment for printing with the adequate control of temperature, pressure and control of parallels of the stamp and substrate. This article introduce the possibility and reality of the thermal control on the hot plate using a CFD code. Numerical computation has been conducted for assessing the feasibility of a hot plate($120{\times}120\;mm2$). PID control is adopted to ensure high temperature uniformity in several zones. Parallel experiments have also been performed for verifying thermal performance. Not only show the results the optimum number of thermocouples related to controllers but also suggest that the thermal simulation using a CFD code would be an alternative method to design and develop the thermal control equipment in the financial aspect.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Surface Engineering Conference
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• 2015.11a
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• pp.170-171
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• 2015

최근 고성능이며 유연하고 투명한 전자 기기의 제작에 대한 관심이 높아지고 있으며 이에 대한 연구가 많이 수행되고 있다. 유연 전자제품을 제작하기 위해서는 고성능의 전자소자를 스탬프를 이용해 모재에서 유연한 기판으로 옮겨 붙이는 전사공정이 필요하다. 성공적인 전사공정을 수행하기 위해 스탬프 표면의 점착력을 제어하는 것이 중요하며, 이를 위해 다양한 표면 패터닝 및 표면처리 방법이 연구되고 있다. 대기압 플라즈마 표면처리는 공정 과정이 단순하여 대면적 연속적 전사 장비에 적용하기에 적합한 표면처리 공정으로, 본 연구에서는 대기압 플라즈마 표면 처리된 스탬프의 점착특성을 조사하고, 표면 처리된 스탬프를 이용하여 전자소자의 전사여부를 확인하는 실험을 수행하였다. 플라즈마 처리되지 않은 스탬프 표면은 높은 접착력을 가지며, 이를 이용하여 전자소자를 모재에서 떼어낼 수 있었다. 반면에 스탬프에 대기압 플라즈마 표면처리를 하면 실리카 재질의 경화층이 형성되며 이 층에 의해 점착력이 감소하여 전자소자를 모재에서 떼어낼 수 없었다. 따라서 스탬프에 대기압 플라즈마 표면처리를 함으로써 스탬프와 전자소자 사이의 점착력을 변화시킬 수 있으며, 이를 이용하면 선택적 전사가 가능함을 확인하였다.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.705-710
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• 2005

NIL (nanoimprint lithography) technique has demonstrated a high potential for wafer size definition of nanometer as well as micrometer size patterns. During the replication process by NIL, the stiction between the stamp and the polymer is one of major problems. This stiction problem is moi·e important in small sized patterns. An antistiction layer prevents this stiction ana insures a clean demolding process. In this paper, we were using a TCP (transfer coupled plasma) equipment and $C_4F_8$ as a precursor to make a Teflon-like antistiction layer. This antistiction layer was deposited on a 6 inch silicon wafer to have nanometer scale thicknesses. The thickness of deposited antistiction layer was measured by ellipsometry. To optimize the process factor such as table height (TH), substrate temperature (ST), working pressure (WP) and plasma power (PP), we were using a design of experimental (DOE) method. The table of full factorial arrays was set by the 4 factors and 2 levels. Using this table, experiments were organized to achieve 2 responses such as deposition rate and non-uniformity. It was investigated that the main effects and interaction effects between parameters. Deposition rate was in proportion to table height, working pressure and plasma power. Non-uniformity was in proportion to substrate temperature and working pressure. Using a response optimization, we were able to get the optimized deposition condition at desired deposition rate and an experimental deposition rate showed similar results.