Developing Roll-to-Roll Nanoimprint Lithography as a Viable Nanomanufacturing Technology

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

Advances in Nanotechnologies have enabled researchers to explore many new material systems and device structures in nanoscale and in reduced dimensions. Lithography for micro- and nanofabrication is of utmost importance for exploiting such structures as well as their new applications. Nanoimprint Lithography (NIL) has emerged as a very promising technique over the past decade for nanostructure fabrication. On the other hand, the current process and throughput in NIL is still far from meeting demands of practical applications in many areas. Commercially relevant applications in the areas of biochips, data storage, and flat panel display mostly require much higher process throughput to justify the cost and manufacturing requirement associated with entering the nano" regime. High-speed imprinting based on the original nanoimprint schemes have fundamental limitations from a material and process point of view. It is the objective of this proposed research to address the bottleneck in nanofabrication by developing continuous Roll-to-Roll NanoImprinting Lithography (R2RNIL) technology. The R2RNIL technique inherits the high-resolution feature of the traditional NIL process because it is also based on a mechanical embossing approach, but with a speed increased by more than an order of magnitude for nanopatterning. To demonstrate its potential impact to the nanomanufacturing society, we propose to apply the R2RNIL technique to a few testbeds related to organic electronic and nanophotonics, where it is commonly accepted that R2R technology is essential for the manufacturing of these devices for large area and low cost applications. Integrating research into education is another major effort of this program. The project requires a multidisciplinary approach, and will involve student researchers at all levels, including undergraduate students. The PI will encourage and promote students' participation in interdisciplinary researches, and will involve graduate students both in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Macromolecular Science and Engineering in this research project. The prototype equipment that will be constructed for this project will not only facilitate our research activities, but will also serves as a valuable demonstration tool in teaching this and related topics in classroom. Progress and new findings made in the project will be made available on website for dissemination to the general scientific community. By providing a truly simple, low-cost and high-throughput nanolithography technique to the broader scientific community, it will not only help to rapidly proliferate the knowledge gained from these new development, but also through the interaction with researchers from diverse fields we will be able to identify many new important applications that can be enabled by such a technology.