Computational study on polymer filling process in nanoimprint lithography

The pattern geometry dependence of the resist-filling process in nanoimprint lithography is studied with molecular dynamics and continuum mechanics simulations. When the cavity size becomes smaller than the molecular size of the polymer, the filling ratio of the cavity becomes quite low in MD simulation. This polymer-size effect is not seen in continuum mechanics. The filling ratio of the cavity decreases with increase in neighboring cavity size. The influence of the cavity size is larger than that of the cavity position in the polymer filling process. We also demonstrate typical examples of the movement of the polymer molecule during the filling process. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.