Examination of focused-ion-beam repair resolution for UV-nanoimprint templates

UV-nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has the potentiality to enable fabrication of nanostructures with high-throughput and low cost. The template is a key element in UV-NIL. Template patterns are directly transferred into the replicated materials. A repair technique is indispensable for UV-NIL template fabrication. However, only a few reports have appeared on the repair of UV-NIL templates. In this study, program protrusion and hollow defects on UV-NIL templates have been repaired by focused-ion-beam (FIB) etching and SiO(x) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using tetraethoxysilane as a source gas. The imprinted line patterns were successfully replicated by UV-NIL using the repaired templates. Moreover, it has been confirmed that FIB etching and CVD can be Applied to repair 30-nm defects on quartz templates.