Room temperature nanoimprint lithography using molds fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy

We have demonstrated single-step room temperature nanoimprint lithography (RTNIL) using polystyrene (PS, average molecular weights ranging from 13 to 97 kg/mol) as the imprint polymer layer on a silicon substrate for imprinting rectangular line patterns with varying aspect ratios, ranging from 11 to 500 nm wide. To accomplish this demonstration, we designed and built a tool that controllably pressed a mold into a stationary imprint sample applying imprint pressures between 280 and 700 MPa. The molds used in these experiments were GaAs/AlGaAs sandwich structures fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) that we cleaved and selectively etched afterward in order to generate 3-D grating structures with nanometer resolution on their edges. We fabricated positive and negative molds comprising single-line as well as multiline patterns with different aspect ratios and linewidths between 9 and 300 nm.