Polymer surface modification by plasmas and photons

The present invention is directed to methods for patterning a substrate by imprint lithography. Imprint lithography is a process in which a liquid is dispensed onto a substrate. A template is brought into contact with the liquid and the liquid is cured. The cured liquid includes an imprint of any patterns formed in the template. In one embodiment, the imprint process is designed to imprint only a portion of the substrate. The remainder of the substrate is imprinted by moving the template to a different portion of the template and repeating the imprint lithography process.

Step and repeat imprint lithography processes

The present invention is directed to a template having a body including a surface with first and second regions. The first region has first wetting characteristics for a given material and the second region has second wetting characteristics for the given material. The first wetting characteristics differ from the second wetting characteristics. Specifically, the first region is formed from a surface treatment layer with a first surface energy to provide the first wetting characteristics. The second region is exposed portions of the body, typically quartz of fused silica, having a second surface energy associated therewith. The second surface energy is greater than the first surface energy to provide the second region with the second wetting characteristics.

Formation of discontinuous films during an imprint lithography process

The bacterial inactivation efficiencies of silver metal and oxides and their combinations on textile fabrics was investigated to evaluate the disinfectant action on airborne bacteria. The inactivation performance was seen to depend on the amount of silver on the textile surface. The preparation of the polyester-polyamide Ag-loaded textiles was carried out by RF-plasma and vacuum-UV (V-UV) surface activation followed by chemical reduction of silver salts. The rate of bacterial inactivation by the silver loaded textile was tested on Escherichia coli K-12 and showed long lasting residual effect. Specular reflectance has been employed to assess the optical properties of the Ag-loaded fabrics. By elemental analysis it was found that levels of Ag loading >0.118% (w/w) for the vacuum-UV samples lead to complete inhibition of bacterial growth. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shows that for textiles activated by RF or V-UV methods, the silver in the topmost layer increases with increasing concentration of the Ag used in the precursor solution. The exact determination of the oxidation state of the Ag-clusters on the textile is difficult because of the variation of particle size and electrostatic charging of the supported particles. Ag metal was found to be the main component of the Ag-clusters and not Ag2O and AgO as identified by the binding peak energies (BE). By transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM) it was seen that the Ag-clusters were deposited on the two polymer components of the textile fabric but having widely different sizes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Antibacterial textiles prepared by RF-plasma and vacuum-UV mediated deposition of silver

Described are systems for patterning a substrate by imprint lithography. Imprint lithography systems include an imprint head configured to hold a template in a spaced relation to a substrate. The imprint lithography system is configured to dispense an activating light curable liquid onto a substrate or template. The system includes a light source that applies activating light to cure the activating light curable liquid.

Step and repeat imprint lithography systems

Photoresist images are made resistant to reactive ion etching by treating them with a poly(dimethylsilazane).

Spray silylation of photoresist images

A dry process for forming a positive tone micro pattern by coating a substrate with an organic polymer film then with a film of an oxygen etch barrier, selected from the group consisting of films of organometallic, including organosilicon compounds and metals, exposing the etch barrier film to a low energy proton beam in a patternwise manner, and developing the pattern by means of oxygen reactive ion etching.

Dry process for forming positive tone micro patterns

Dopant-induced ablation of poly(methyl methacrylate) by a 308-nm excimer laser

An electro-lithography method suitable for forming a high resolution pattern in an electron sensitive resist material is disclosed. This technology permits the inexpensive high resolution reproduction of masks for use in integrated circuits and magnetic bubbles. The method involves the application of a pulsed, electric field to two parallel electrodes having an electron beam resist layer positioned on one of the electrodes and a mask positioned between the second electrode and the resist layer. The mask forms a gap having a thickness of 10 -4 m to 10 -5 m with the resist layer.

Electro-lithography method

Photoablation of polymers by laser beams is a practical process for via holes preparation in polymeric insulators. Excimer laser photochemistry of polymers is actively considered for microlithography. The ablation rate is dependent on the absorption coefficient. By addition of a dopant, photoetching rates of polymers can be increased significantly. In the present study the photoetching rates of poly(dimethyl glutarimide) and chlorinated poly(methylstyrene) are studied with pyrene as a dopant with 308 nm of XeCl excimer laser.

Hiroyuki Hiraoka

Papers

Spray silylation of photoresist images

Dry process for forming positive tone micro patterns

Dopant-induced ablation of poly(methyl methacrylate) by a 308-nm excimer laser

Electro-lithography method

Dopant‐induced ablation of polymers by a 308 nm excimer laser