Development of Large-Area Sub-20-nm Half-Pitch Nanoimprint Templates for Nanomanufacturing

纳米压印光刻技术被广泛认为是最有前途的纳米制造技术之一。在纳米压印技术中，最关键的瓶颈和挑战之一是压印模板的制备。没有模板，纳米压印无法复制任何图案。 然而，我们需要的许多纳米压印模板远远超出了今天的纳米图案化能力（要么特征太小，要么面积太大，或者两者兼而有之）。 拟议研究的目标是开发几种创新的非传统纳米图案化方法，当单独使用或一起使用时，可以制造以前无法制造的各种纳米压印模板;特别是最需要的大面积压印模板之一：大面积亚20 nm半间距光栅和网格，在多个学科中具有广泛而重要的应用。 拟议的创新方法有三个方面：（i）产生特征尺寸和图案面积远远超过传统纳米图案化的纳米压印主模板的新方法（二嵌段共聚物的引导自组装、倍频和多重纳米压印），（ii）改进和修复纳米压印模板的创新方法（纳米结构的自完善和通过晶面各向异性蚀刻的平滑化），和（iii）从母版高保真复制子模板的创新方法（新材料的室温CVD和液体浇铸）。这项研究将开发一种在广泛的行业中广泛应用的基础性纳米制造技术，从新材料，数据存储，光通信，半导体IC，显示器，到生物技术，太阳能电池，燃料电池，仅举几例;并产生纳米图案化的新尖端知识。因此，拟议研究的成功将使美国受益。中国在纳米技术方面的竞争力，有助于美国的工业，并可能产生重大的经济影响。这项研究将培养研究生和本科生在纳米制造的新技术领域。

Nanoimprint lithography is well recognized as one of the most promising enabling nanomanufacturing technologies for a broad range of industries. In nanoimprint, one of the most critical bottleneck and challenge is the fabrication of imprint templates. Without templates, nanoimprint cannot replicate any patterns. Yet many nanoimprint templates that we need are well beyond today's nanopatterning capabilities (either features are too small, or areas too large, or both). The goal of the proposed research is to develop several innovative nontraditional nanopatterning methods, which, when used individually or together, can fabricate various nanoimprint templates that have not been able to be fabricated before; in particular, one of the most needed- large-area imprint templates: large-area sub-20-nm half-pitch gratings and grids, that have broad and significant applications in multiple disciplines. The proposed innovative methods are in three areas: (i) new methods of generating nanoimprint master templates of features size and pattern area far beyond traditional nanopatterning (guided self-assembly of diblock copolymer, frequency doubling, and multiple nanoimprinting), (ii) innovative methods of improving and repairing nanoimprint templates (self-perfection of nanostructure and smoothing by crystalline-plane anisotropic etching), and (iii) innovative methods of high fidelity replication of daughter templates from masters (room-temperature CVD and liquid casting of novel materials). This research will develop an enabling and fundamental nanomanufacturing technology of wide applications in a broad range of industries, from new materials, data storage, optical communication, semiconductor ICs, displays, to biotechnology, solar cells, fuel cells, to name a just a few; and generate new cutting-edge knowledge in nanopatterning. Thus, the success of the proposed research will benefit U.S.'s competitiveness in nanotechnology, aid U.S industry, and will potentially have significant economic impact. The research will train graduate and undergraduate students in the new technology area of nanomanufacturing.