Choi K.M.
Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, US
Keywords: nanofabrications, soft lithography
Nanotechnology has been seeking precision on organic electronics with enhanced device performances at low cost. Recently, there are growing interests in the functional integration generated using functional polymers to fabricate novel devices, which satisfy a set of our increasing demands in miniaturization. Since features fabricated on a variety of substrates using soft materials have produced numerous active devices, novel functional polymers designed for advanced nanotechnology are desperately required in this area. It includes Elastomeric silicon rubbers. In this study, novel functional silicon elastomers were designed to achieve high performances in soft lithography. Soft lithography is alternative to conventional UV photolithography. This technology also allows us to fabricate small patterns with low cost and easy processability. However, commercially available silicon elastomers often results in collapse and mergence due to its low mechanical strength, especially in the nano-scale regime (< 100 nm). Since the resolution of soft lithography techniques rely on the stamp’s mechanical properties, these limitations have motivated us to develop a new stiff, photocured silicon elastomers, which satisfy our multiple demands, such as enhanced physical stiffness, good elastomeric properties, low linear polymerization shrinkage, photocurability, and freedom from stress. The new silicon elastomer results in enhanced performances in nano-resolution soft lithography. The relation between silicon rubber structures and resulting properties will be also discussed for achieving advanced nanotechnology by developing new materials.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Technical Proceedings of the 2007 NSTI Nanotechnology Conference and Trade Show, Volume 1
Published: May 20, 2007
Pages: 348 - 351
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Advanced Materials for Engineering Applications
ISBN: 1-4200-6182-8