A Tunable Nanoimprint System to Create New Features

Fabrication of different patterns based on the same nanoimprint mould is very attractive due to the time and cost consumption of fabricating hard mould. This paper demonstrates a tunable photo-curing nanoimprint system to create new features based on the same polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mould and a Ti-containing resist synthesized by titanium (IV) ethoxide and 2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl acetoacetate. The resist exhibits very high oxygen RIE resistance and is able to take the place of traditional polysiloxance based resists to fabricate high-aspect-ratio patterns. The resist also has a low shrinkage (about 2.45%) and a high Young's modulus of 10.85GPa after photo-curing. High polarity contrast of PDMS and Ti-resist makes the release process freely and PDMS mould can be directly used without further anti-stick treatment. A number of new features are imprinted into Ti-resist based on the same PDMS mould by controlling the deformation and the stretched PDMS mould can be repeatedly used after relaxation.