Fast fabrication of TiO2 hard stamps for nanoimprint lithography

Abstract

The fabrication of imprinting stamps plays a vital role in the nanoimprinting lithography. In this work, we proposed a facile method to fabricate TiO2 hard stamp by patterning sol-gel films. A polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) soft stamp with highly ordered micropit array was used as an original stamp to imprint the TiO2 sol which was spin coated on a quartz wafer. The nano-hardness and Young’s modulus of TiO2 hard stamp are in the range of 7.7–10.0GPa and 118.9–130.0GPa, which is much higher than the conventional PDMS material. Afterwards the TiO2 hard stamps are demonstrated in both UV and hot embossing lithography with a promising life cycle. The proposed stamp can be extended to other metal oxides, which possesses a promising prospective for large scale patterning because of the low cost and excellent mechanical durability.