title: Efficient methods of nanoimprint stamp cleaning based on imprint self-cleaning effect.
abstract: Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a nonconventional lithographic technique that promises low-cost, high-throughput patterning of structures with sub-10 nm resolution. Contamination of nanoimprint stamps is one of the key obstacles to industrialize the NIL technology. Here, we report two efficient approaches for removal of typical contamination of particles and residual resist from stamps: thermal and ultraviolet (UV) imprinting cleaning-both based on the self-cleaning effect of imprinting process. The contaminated stamps were imprinted onto polymer substrates and after demolding, they were treated with an organic solvent. The images of the stamp before and after the cleaning processes show that the two cleaning approaches can effectively remove contamination from stamps without destroying the stamp structures. The contact angles of the stamp before and after the cleaning processes indicate that the cleaning methods do not significantly degrade the anti-sticking layer. The cleaning processes reported in this work could also be used for substrate cleaning.
authors.affiliation: The Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, 116024 Dalian, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Fantao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maximov
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Montelius
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nilsson
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Carlberg
authors.forename: Babak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Heidari
authors.forename: Jinkui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.forename: H Q
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Xu