title: Planarizing surface topography by polymer adhesion to water-soluble templates with replicated null pattern.
abstract: Water-soluble polymer templates are replicated from flat master surface patterns by spin-casting a poly(vinyl alcohol) film-forming solution that solidifies at standard ambient conditions in less than 1 min. The fabricated water-soluble templates are coupled to substrates with surface topography by polymer adhesion with an intervening reactive or photocurable liquid layer. After curing, the resulting two-layer solid structure is subjected to water thereby dissolving the soluble template to expose the underlying polymer adhesive layer with flat surface topography. The results demonstrate a reduction of surface topography from several micrometers to less than 100 nm. The chemical interactions involved in bonding the soluble template to the polymer adhesive and then dissolving are measured by Raman spectroscopy to demonstrate that the constituents comprising the water-soluble template are absent from the surface of the planarization material.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-9510, USA. cschaper@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Charles D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Schaper
mesh_terms: D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force / Q000379:methods*; D010316:Particle Size; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol / Q000737:chemistry*; D012995:Solubility; D013059:Spectrum Analysis, Raman / Q000379:methods; D013499:Surface Properties; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water; D011142:Polyvinyl Alcohol