Benchmarking of 50 nm features in thermal nanoimprint

The objective of this benchmarking is to establish a comparison of several tools and processes used in thermal NIL with Si stamps at the nanoscale among the authors' laboratories. The Si stamps have large arrays of 50 nm dense lines and were imprinted in all these laboratories in a similar to 100 nm thick mr-18010E film. Other materials, such as mr-17010E, were also tested. Good patterns were obtained and some limitations were identified. Reducing the pressure to 15 bars enables the printing of 50 nm structures without pulling them off. At higher pressures, some bending effects resulting in pattern deformation were observed. It was proven that a pressure of 1.5 bars is sufficient to imprint perfect 50 nm lines. The influence of the antiadhesive layer and mold design has been characterized by the demonstration of pulled off lines in some cases. Moreover, it has been shown that the scatterometry method is particularly useful for the characterization of 50 nm lines and that the residual layer thickness corresponds to the theoretical estimate as long as the lines are well defined. One process was demonstrated which combines high reproducibility with high throughput, achieving a cycle time of 2 min. (c) 2007 American Vacuum Society.