Shape control of polymer reflow structures fabricated by nanoimprint lithography

Abstract

Nanoimprinted resist pre-forms were modified using thermal reflow. This post-processing of binary structures enabled us to generate lens-like 3-D structures with different shapes by time- and surface chemistry controlled spreading. The method was extended to feature dimensions down to 100 nm. Surfactant coated line nanostructures were found to be limited by a maximum aspect ratio for imprinted pre-forms. This powerful post-processing method can be used either directly as post-processing step in production or for the fabrication of 3-D stamp copies with the desired shapes.