Microscopic properties of a nanocrystal aluminum thin film during nanoimprint using quasi-continuous method

Abstract

In this article, we perform a multi-scale simulation of nanoimprint on a single-crystal aluminum thin film using the quasi-continuous method. The effects of contact stiffness between the stamper, thin film, and imprint orientation on the microstructure of the nanocrystal aluminum are examined. Results show that for a smaller value of contact stiffness, plastic deformation occurs relatively late. However, early plastic deformation is found when the stamper imprints perpendicular to the plane (111). In addition, to explore the effect of offset on the microstructure of a single-crystal aluminum thin film during the multi-imprint process, we perform a secondary imprint with an imprint depth of 10Å. The effect of the first nanoimprint process on the secondary process can be found to be negligible when the offset is larger than 100Å. However, we do not obtain a good pattern for a 50-Å offset. Therefore, for simulation cases, we suggest that the appropriate offset between the two imprints is 100Å.