Wafer-scale transfer of nanoimprinted pattern into silicon substrates

G. Hubbard (1), S.J. Abbott (1), Q. Chen (2), D.W.E. Allsopp (2), W.N. Wang (2), C.R. Bowen (2), R. Stevens (2), A. Satka (3) D. Hasko (3), F, Uherek (3) and J. Kovac (3)

(1) MacDermid Autotype Ltd, Grove Road, Wantage OX12 7BZ, England
(2) Faculty of Engineering and Design, University of Bath BA2 7AY, England
(3) International Laser Center, Ilkovicova 3, Bratislava 812 19, Slovakia

Abstract

Nanoimprinting provides a low cost alternative to Deep Ultra-Violet and electron beam lithography for producing deeply sub-micron features in semiconductor device fabrication. This paper presents a flexible nanoimprint process capable of wafer-scale pattern transfer into Si substrates. The technique is based on the novel concept of a disposable soft master with matching imprint resist formulations. Both of the resists developed enable the transfer of vertical sided, nearly flat bottomed features in Si substrates. The technique lends itself to large-scale low cost roll-toroll processing based on the concept of a disposable master. The process is a promising method for low-cost formation of photonic crystal structures in hard substrates and is potentially suitable for high volume production.