Large area nanoscale patterning of functional materials using organosilicate ink based nanotransfer printing

Abstract

This paper presents a versatile nanotransfer printing method for achieving large-area sub-micron patterns of functional materials. Organosilicate ink formulations combined with effective release layers have been shown to facilitate patterning of materials through the commonly used patterning approaches—lift off, physical etching and chemical etching. In this paper, we demonstrate that organosilicate ink formulations function as an effective resist owing to its superior physico-chemical stability whereas the release layers ensure clean removal of the resist post patterning. We successfully demonstrate patterning of sub-micron structures (800 nm feature sizes) of chromium metal through the lift off approach, silicon through reactive ion etching technique and silicon dioxide through wet chemical etching technique illustrating the versatility of the reported method. This patterning methodology represents a significant advancement in enabling nanostructure fabrication within resource-constrained laboratories. The approach requires nothing more than a master mold containing the desired structures, a spin coater, a low-temperature hotplate, and a desktop reactive ion etch tool.