Step and flash imprint lithography

Developed by Stephen Chou of Princeton University in the 1990s, this technique uses a rigid, hard master that is placed on a film of polymer that has been heated 

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Fig. 1 Schematic of (A) nanoimprint lithography and (B) step-and-flash imprint lithography. (View this art in color at www.dekker.com.)...

Ruchhoeft, P. Colburn, M. Choi, B. Nounu, H. Johnson, S. Bailey, T. Damle, S. Stewart, M. Ekerdt, J. Sreenivasan, S.V. Wolfe, J.C. Willson, C.G. Patterning curved surfaces template generation by ion beam proximity lithography and relief transfer by step and flash imprint lithography. J. Vacuum Sci. Technol. B. 1999,17 (6), 2965-2969. 

FIGURE 5.5.36 Schematic of step-and-flash imprint lithography (S-FIL). (a) A photocurable liquid (etch barrier) is dispersed between a transparent template and substrate, (b) The gap between the template and the substrate is closed to create a thin resist layer, (c) The backside of the template is illuminated with UV light to cure the resist, (d) The template is removed, leaving behind the imprinted features, (e) An anisotropic etch removes the base layer and transfers the pattern into the substrate. (From T. Bailey et al., J. Vac. Sci. Technol, B, 18, 3572, 2000.)... 

M. Colburn et al.. Step and flash imprint lithography A new approach to high-resolution patterning, Proc. SPIE, 3676, 379, 1999. 

D. J. Resnick et al.. New methods for fabricating step and flash imprint lithography templates, Proc. SPIE, 4608, 176, 2002. 

M. Colburn et al.. Characterization and modeling of volumetric and mechanical properties for step and flash imprint lithography photopolymers, J. Vac. Sci. TechnoL, B, 19, 2685, 2001. 

Cheam, D. D., Karre, P. S. K., Palard, M., and P. L. Bergstrom. 2009. Step and flash imprint lithography for quantum dots based room temperature single electron transistor fabrication. Microelectronic Engineering 86 646-649. 

A common gate flexible thin-film transistor on a PEN film can be fabricated by step and flash imprint lithography [96]. It has been demonstrated that the step and flash imprint lithography is a roll-to-roll compatible and down scalable patterning technique on a flexible PEN foil for the fabrication of flexible high-quality thin film transistors. 

Moonen PF, Vratzov B, Smaal WTT, Gelinck GH, P6ter M, Meinders ER, et al. A common gate thin film transistor on poly(ethylene naphthalate) foil using step-and-flash imprint lithography. Org Electron 2011 12(12) 2207-14. 

A top-down approach in templated techniques for fabrication of well-delined nanostmetures is inspired and influenced by manufacturabihty and processability of large quantities of monodisperse nanopartides. Rolland et al. first introduced a technique known as partide replication in nonwetting templates (PRINT), which is in some ways an extension of Willson s step and flash imprint lithography, but also stands out from other imprint lithography techniques because of its utilization of highly fluotinated dastomeric molds to produce... 

Step and flash imprint lithography (STIL) was first reported by G. Willson.23 2 A picture of the first STIL tool constructed by his group is shown in Figure 4.6. The first STIL tool was developed for commercial equipment. 

Microfabrication offers a way to produce homogeneous monodisperse particles that are not only spherical particles with controlled or asymmetrical shapes and architectures with a specific size can also be fabricated, which is not possible with the other methods. This method uses soft templates to produce monodisperse particles wherein the template can be fully dissolved in aqueous solutions once the particles are formed. There are many different methods of microfabrication particle replication in non wetting templates [72], microcontact hot printing [73], step and flash imprint lithography [74], and... 

Palmieri F, Adams J, Long B et al (2007) Design of reversible cross-linkers for step and flash imprint lithography imprint resists. ACS Nano 1 307-312... 

Johnson SC, Bailey TC, Dickey MD et al (2003) Advances in step and flash imprint lithography. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 5037 197-202... 

Ee NV, Dauksher WJ, Gehoski KA et al (2005) Selective dry etch process for step and flash imprint lithography. Microelectron Eng 78 464-473... 

Kim E, Stacey N, Smith B et al (2004) Vinyl ethers in ultraviolet curable formulations for step and flash imprint lithography. J Vac Sci Technol B Microelectron Nanometer Struct 22 131... 

Figure 4.67. Schematic of step-and-flash imprint lithography, SFIL. The SEM images shown in (b) and (c) represent 20- and 40-nm patterned line arrays, whereas (d) and (e) show a mnlti-tiered template and resultant imprint in a resist material. Reprodnced with permission from J. MicroUthogr., Micrqfabr., Microsyst. 2005, d, 011 002. Copyright 2005 hrtematirmal Society of Optical Engineering.

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