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A dual-curable transfer layer for adhesion enhancement of a multilayer UV-curable nanoimprint resist system

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Abstract

We invented a dual-curable transfer layer to enhance adhesion of the UV-curable nanoimprint resist to the substrate. Based on this transfer layer, we developed bilayer resist and trilayer resist UV-curable nanoimprint lithography processes, which were used for etching and lift-off processes, respectively. The dual-curable transfer layer combined at least two different types of reactive functions based on different polymerization mechanisms. It formed strong chemical bonds with both the underneath material and the nanoimprint resist layer in two curing steps. It helped improve the adhesion of the low surface energy resist film to the substrate substantially, and, more importantly, made high-resolution patterning much more reliable. Moreover, low aspect ratio imprinted patterns were amplified into high aspect ratio patterns through the transfer layer via a selective etching process.

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 10874072 and 91023014) and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program) (Grant No. 2007AA03Z334).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, P.R. China

    Dingfu Xia, Liang Ye, Xu Guo, Yushuang Cui, Jizong Zhang, Changsheng Yuan, Haixiong Ge & Yanfeng Chen

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, 3737 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA, 900089, USA

    Wei Wu

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  1. Dingfu Xia
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  2. Liang Ye
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  3. Xu Guo
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  4. Yushuang Cui
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  5. Jizong Zhang
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  6. Changsheng Yuan
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  7. Haixiong Ge
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  8. Wei Wu
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  9. Yanfeng Chen
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Correspondence to Haixiong Ge or Wei Wu.

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Xia, D., Ye, L., Guo, X. et al. A dual-curable transfer layer for adhesion enhancement of a multilayer UV-curable nanoimprint resist system. Appl. Phys. A 108, 1–6 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-6911-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-012-6911-9

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