Sub-100 mu s nanoimprint lithography at wafer scale

We present here an ultrafast thermal NIL technology, which enables the patterning of full wafers on the 100 is time-scale. This technique makes use of stamps with a heating layer integrated beneath their nanostructured surfaces. Injecting a single, short (<100 mu s), intense current pulse into the heating layer causes the surface temperature of the stamp to raise suddenly by hundreds of degrees degrees C, resulting in the melting of the thermoplastic resist film pressed against it and the swift indentation of the nanostructures. This paper introduces the main aspects of this technology, namely the process concept, the stamp structure, and the main features of the equipment by which the process at the wafer scale was implemented. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.