Resin micromachining by roller hot embossing

The roller hot embossing is an efficient process of manufacture in which patterns are continuously transcribed on film, etc. Recently, the application of the embossing roll to the manufacturing processes of micro parts is paid attention. In this paper, we examined the development of the embossing roll with patterns of micron level and we tried to make the embossing roll mold by using the LIGA process. In this study, instead of producing embossing patterns directly on the roll surface, we fabricated a flexible thin mold with micro-patterns, which was then wrapped onto a cylinder to form an embossing roll, and tested the soft-mold roller hot embossing method. First, by optimizing UV exposure conditions of UV lithography, we prepared a resist pattern of numerous dots with a diameter of 10 mu m, a sag height of 8 mu m and a pitch of 20 mu m. By Ni-electroforming this pattern, a 50 mu m-thick thin mold was successfully fabricated. The 50 mu m-thick mold was then wrapped onto a cylinder to form an embossing roll. In the roller hot embossing process, the 10 mu m-diameter dot shape was successfully replicated on PET sheets.