Making modified fluoropolymer molds for ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography

A technique of using commercial polymers and additive to fabricate the modified fluoropolymer molds for ultraviolet nanoimprint is proposed, which is based on direct replicating of the electronic beam lithography resist patterns by cast molding process. A small amount of the added additive can increase the oleophobic behavior of the fluoropolymer, and so to reduce its surface energy remarkably. The cast-molded modified fluoropolymer molds (CMF-mold) not only satisfy the rigidity requirement for replicating very fine features and are solvent resistant but also possess low surface energy by themselves and are inexpensive and easy to fabricate. Using the CMF-mold, both complex letters with 100 nm linewidth and dense lines with 80 nm linewidth/space can be reproduced into the ultraviolet resist conveniently. Moreover, in our experiment, the modified fluoropolymer mold has shown its replicating competence for fabricating high-aspect-ratio sub-30 nm structures. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.