“Print-and-Imprint” Method : Novel Nanoimprint Technology Based on Laser-Drilled Screen Printing

Abstract

Nanoimprint technology is a mold processing fabrication technology from single-digit nanometers consisting of mold imprinting and lithography processes, which attracts attention as industrially acceptable micro/nano-fabrication methods. A novel “print-and-imprint” method, named by us, is to add laser-drilled screen printing to the conventional ultraviolet (UV) nanoimprint lithography. We are under developing the fabrication processes to combine fluorescence imprint alignment. Polyimide masks with through holes made by laser drilling are used in laser-drilled screen printing, which enables the site-selective and quantitative placement of constant-volume droplets of wide-range high-viscosity UV-curable liquid on substrate surfaces and the formation of imprint resist patterns with a uniform residual layer thickness independently of variation of mold-recess surface densities. Fluorescence imprint alignment using UV-curable liquid with visible fluorescence has a characteristic of the availability of silica molds without any optically functional layer, which will lead the reduction of mold cost. We emphasized the importance of surface treatment at a molecular level in the nanoimprint technology.