Nano Imprint Lithography on Silica Sol-gels: a simple route to sequential patterning

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple method for sequential nano imprinting on silica sol-gels, enabling complex pattern formation by exploiting the thermo-rheological properties of ICSG resists.

Contribution

It demonstrates a novel sequential imprinting technique on silica sol-gels using their thermo-rheological behavior, expanding NIL capabilities.

Findings

Successful formation of complex silica structures through sequential imprinting

Utilization of low-pressure imprinting due to thermo-rheological properties

Potential for advanced nanofabrication applications

Abstract

Since the pioneering work of S.Y. Chou et al.[1] Nano Imprint Lithography (NIL) has emerged as a promising technique for surface patterning, opening for numerous applications ranging from nanophotonics[2] to microfluidics[3]. NIL basically consists in the stamping of deformable surfaces or films. Preferred materials are thermoplastics[4] and UV curable resists[5]. So far, most papers report on single imprinting methods for which the same surface is imprinted only once. In the present paper, we report the imprinting of square silica structures from simple line gratings and demonstrate how the specific thermo-rheological behavior of ICSG resists can be harnessed to form complex structures by sequential imprinting at low pressures.