Programmable Nanopatterns by Controlled Debonding of Soft Elastic Films.

Abstract

We report a facile patterning technique capable of creating nanostructures with different feature heights (hS), periodicities (λS), aspect ratios (AR), and duty ratios (DR), using a single grating stamp with fixed feature height hP and periodicity λP. The proposed method relies on controlling the extent of debonding and morphology of the contact instability features, when a rigid patterned stamp is gradually debonded from a soft elastic film to which it was in initial conformal contact. Depending on whether the instability wavelength (λF scales with the film thickness hF as λF ≈ 3hF) and the periodicity of the stamp feature (λP) are commensurate or not, it is possible to obtain features along each stamp protrusion when λF ≈ λP or patterns that span several stripes of the stamp when λF > λP. In both cases, the patterns fabricated during debonding are taller than the original stamp features (hS > hP). We show that hS can be modulated by controlling the extent of debonding as well as the shear modulus of the film (μ). Additionally, when λF > λP, progressive debonding leads to the gradual peeling of replicated features, which, in turn, allows possible tuning of the duty ratio (DR) of the patterns. Finally we show that by the simultaneous modulation of AR, DR, and hS, it becomes possible to create surfaces with controlled wettability.