Embossing on epoxy thermoset polymer using SiO₂ coated nickel template

Embossing or imprint lithography is the key-technology for the mass production of nanosized structures with low cost. Currently Si or quartz template which is produced by e-beam or DUV lithography and reactive ion etching, is used. However they are very expensive and easily damaged due to their brittleness. On the other hand, Ni template has high mechanical durability and can be fabricated with low cost by electroplating. However, one of the key obstacles of Ni template is poor antistiction property, when it is used with sticky thermoset polymer. Due to its poor antistiction property, detachment of Ni template from epoxy substrate is one of the key obstacles. In this experiment, quartz template with 150nm to 1μm sized surface protrusion was fabricated and used to emboss the PMMA coated Si wafer. Then the imprinted PMMA layer was coated with metal seed layer and electroplating of Ni was followed to fabricate Ni template with 150nm to 1μm sized patterns. In order to form antistiction layer on Ni template, SAM antistiction layer was formed on SiO ₂ coated Ni template. As a result, nano patterns could be successfully transferred to sticky thermoset polymer using Ni template without any degradation of antistiction property.