What can NIL do ? 

Nanoimprint lithography has been used to fabricate devices for electrical, optical, photonic and biological applications. For electronics devices, NIL has been used to fabricate MOSFET, O-TFT, single electron memory. For optics and photonics, intensive study has been conducted in fabrication of subwavelength resonant grating filter, polarizers, waveplate, anti-reflective structures, integrated photonics circuit and plasmonic devices by NIL. sub-10 nm nanofluidic channels had been fabricated using NIL and used in DNA strenching experiment. Currently, NIL is used to shrink the size of biomolecular sorting device an order of magnitude smaller and more efficient.

 

 

What is the advantages ? 

A key benefit of nanoimprint lithography is its sheer simplicity. The single greatest cost associated with chip fabrication is the optical lithography tool used to print the circuit patterns. Optical lithography requires high powered excimer lasers and immense stacks of precision ground lens elements to achieve nanometer scale resolution. There is no need for complex optics or high-energy radiation sources with a nanoimprint tool. There is no need for finely tailored photoresists designed for both resolution and sensitivity at a given wavelength. The simplified requirements of the technology lead to its low cost.

 

Imprint lithography is inherently a three-dimensional patterning process. Imprint molds can be fabricated with multiple layers of topography stacked vertically. Resulting imprints replicate both layers with a single imprint step, which allows chip manufactures to reduce chip fabrication costs and improve product throughput. As mentioned above, the imprint material does not need to be finely tuned for high resolution and sensitivity. A broader range of materials with varying properties are available for use with imprint lithography. The increased material variability gives chemists the freedom to design new functional materials rather than sacrificial etch resistant polymers. A functional material may be imprinted directly to form a layer in a chip with no need for pattern transfer into underlying materials. The successful implementation of a functional imprint material would result in significant cost reductions and increased throughput by eliminating many difficult chip fabrication processing steps