Fabrication of mesas with micro- and nanopatterned surface relief used as working stamps for step and stamp imprint lithography

A manufacturing concept to fabricate working stamps with defined mesa structures using combined nanoimprint and photolithography is presented. OrmoStamp, an UV-curable organic-inorganic hybrid polymer, was used as mold material. 30 mu m high large mesa structures (4 x 4 mm(2)) with sharp borders and almost vertical sidewalls were manufactured. On top they featured nanograting patterns with 200 nm height and lateral size as a surface relief. The good thermal decoupling of stamp body and imprinted substrate and the high planarity (divergence <50 nm) make the stamp very suitable for thermal step and repeat nanoimprint lithography of confined patterns with low stitching errors. Up to 210 imprints were performed with a single mesa into a 325 nm thin layer of mr-I 7030E. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3497022]