Anti-sticking treatment for a nanoimprint stamp

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL), as a low-cost and mass production technique, has played an important role in micro/nano fabrication. However, the sticking problem between the stamp and resist blocks its further application. In order to modify the contact surface, a molecular dynamics (MD) method was used to choose the proper material to coat on the surface of the stamp. According to the MD analysis, CF₂ was found to be a good choice for this purpose. It was applied to the nanoimprint stamp by using the gases in reactive ion etching (RIE). A self-assembly monolayer (SAM) layer was also used in the experiment to release the contact surface energy. Both dry and wet methods were demonstrated as excellent anti-sticking approaches by measuring the contact angles and calculating the surface energy. Both the stamps after anti-sticking treatment can be used more times than the untreated stamps.