Nanoimprint Lithography Processing of Inorganic-Based Materials

We review past and recent progress in nanoimprint lithography (NIL) methods to (nano-) structure inorganic materials from sol-gel liquid formulations and colloidal suspensions onto a surface. This technique, first inspired by embossing techniques, was developed for soft polymer processing, as final or intermediate materials, but is today fully adapted to hard inorganic materials with a high dielectric constant, such as metal oxides, with countless chemical compositions provided by the sol-gel chemistry. Consequently, NIL has become a versatile, high-throughput, and highly precise microfabrication method that is mature for lab developments and scaling up. We first describe generalities in nanofabrication methods and the plethora of approaches developed in the last decades to imprint metal oxides from inorganic solutions. These are discussed and compared in terms of performances, issues, and ease of implementation. The final part is devoted to relevant applications in domains of interest.