Large-area pattern transfer of metallic nanostructures on glass substrates via interferencelithography

Abstract

In this paper, we report a simple and effective nanofabrication method for the patterntransfer of metallic nanostructures over a large surface area on a glass substrate.Photoresist (PR) nano-patterns, defined by laser interference lithography, are used astemplate structures where a metal film of controlled thickness is directly deposited andthen transferred onto a glass substrate by the sacrificial etching of the PR inter-layer. Thelaser interference lithography, capable of creating periodic nano-patterns with good controlof their dimensions and shapes over a relatively large area, allows the wafer-scale patterntransfer of metallic nanostructures in a very convenient way. By using the approach, wehave successfully fabricated on a glass substrate uniform arrays of hole, grating,and pillar patterns of Ti, Al, and Au in varying pattern periodicities (200 nm–1 µm) over a surface areaof up to several cm2 with little mechanical crack and delamination. Such robust metallic nanostructures definedwell on a transparent glass substrate with large pattern coverage will lead to advancedscientific and engineering applications such as microfluidics and nanophotonics.