Investigation on the neighbouring effect of filling micro‐ and nanoscale cavities in ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography

Abstract

Micro-/nanoscale patterns are popular in many applications, and several techniques to transfer multiscale patterns have been developed. Ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) is the most promising method to quickly produce complex structures, and there is a need to understand the resist-flowing and cavity-filling processes because partial cavity filling may cause defects. One crucial element of a stamp is the layout of the multiscale cavities. They can induce some difficulties during the filling process. Five different stamps with various micro-/nanoscale features (one nano feature, one micro feature, one nano feature, and one micro feature, two nano features and one micro feature) were employed in this simulation study. The imprint results show that the neighbouring effect has major issues in the microscale cavity filling and minor issues in the nanoscale. The layout of complex cavities results in poor filling proportions, and longer imprint times and a symmetrical layout were needed to improve the imprint quality. The contact pressure between the stamp and the resist generally declined when the location approached the centre from both sides of the stamp. The overall physical performance of neighbouring micro-/nanoscale cavities was obtained, and this is essential for further understanding and improvements in the UV-NIL process.