Abstract
Fabricating nanopatterns on polyimide (PI) films directly by nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is difficult owing to the high glass transition temperature (Tg). In this study, a nanopatterned PI film was successfully obtained by nanoimprinting poly(amic acid) (PAA) film and curing it afterward. Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis were carried out to study the state of thermal molecular motion in PAA thick films that have the same content of residual solvent as the PAA thin films used in NIL. The thermal and dynamic mechanical behaviors of PI thick films were studied for comparison. An appropriate nanoimprinting process was proposed based on an understanding of the thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of PAA and PI films. Atomic force microscopy showed that the line pattern was transferred without distortion from the PAA film to the PI film, even though a larger shrinkage took place during the hard baking.
Similar content being viewed by others
Log in or create a free account to read this content
Gain free access to this article, as well as selected content from this journal and more on nature.com
or
References
Mittal, K. L. & Ghosh, M. K. in Polyimide: Fundamentals and applications 629–698 (Marcel Dekker, New York, 1996).
Mittal, K. L. (ed.) Polyimides: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications (Plenum Pub Corp. New York, 1984).
Song, S., Cho, B., Kim, T. W., Ji, Y., Jo, M., Wang, G., Choe, M., Kahng, Y. H., Hwang, H. & Lee, T Three-dimensional integration of organic resistive memory devices. Adv. Mater. 22, 5048–5052 (2010).
Chiou, D. R., Yeh, K. Y. & Chen, L. J. Adjustable pretilt angle of nematic 4-n-pentyl-4 '-cyanobiphenyl on self-assembled monolayers formed from organosilanes on square-wave grating silica surfaces. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 133123 (2006).
Lin, R. S. & Rogers, J. A. Molecular-scale soft imprint lithography for alignment layers in liquid crystal devices. Nano Lett. 7, 1613–1621 (2007).
Ree, M High performance polyimides for applications in microelectronics and flat panel displays. Macromol. Res. 14, 1–33 (2006).
Viventi, J., Kim, D.-H., Vigeland, L., Frechette, E. S., Blanco, J. A., Kim, Y. S., Avrin, A. E., Tiruvadi, V. R, Hwang, S. W., Vanleer, A. C., Wulsin, D. F., Davis, K., Gelber, C. E., Palmer, L., Van der Spiegel, J., Wu, J., Xiao, J., Huang, Y., Contreras, D., Rogers, J. A. & Litt, B. Flexible, foldable, actively multiplexed, high-density electrode array for mapping brain activity in vivo. Nat. Neurosci. 14, 1599–1605 (2011).
Nie, Z. & Kumacheva, E. Patterning surfaces with functional polymers. Nat. Mater. 7, 277–290 (2008).
Lee, B. W. & Clark, N. A. Alignment of liquid crystals with patterned isotropic surfaces. Science 291, 2576–2580 (2001).
Thibault, C., Molnar, G., Salmon, L., Bousseksou, A. & Vieu, C. Soft lithographic patterning of spin crossover nanoparticle. Langmuir 26, 1557–1560 (2010).
Krämer, S., Fuierer, R. R. & Gorman, C. B. Scanning probe lithography using self-assembled monolayers. Chem. Rev. 103, 4367–4418 (2003).
Akiyama, H., Momose, M., Ichimura, K. & Yamamura, S. Surface-selective modification of poly(vinyl alcohol) films with azobenzenes for inplane alignment photocontrol of nematic liquid-crystals. Macromolecules 28, 288–293 (1995).
Honda, K., Morita, M. & Takahara, A. Room-temperature fabrication of nanotexture in crystalline poly(fluoroalkyl acrylate) thin film. Soft Matter 4, 1400–1402 (2008).
Chou, S. Y., Krauss, P. R. & Renstrom, P. J. Imprint of Sub-25 Nm vias and trenches in polymers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 67, 3114–3116 (1995).
Ofir, Y., Moran, I. W., Subramani, C., Carter, K. R. & Rotello, V. M. Nanoimprint lithography for functional three-dimensional patterns. Adv. Mater. 22, 3608–3614 (2010).
Cui, B., Cortot, Y. & Veres, T. Polyimide nanostructures fabricated by nanoimprint lithography and its applications. Microelectron. Eng. 83, 906–909 (2006).
Shin, T. J., Lee, B., Youn, H. S., Lee, K.-B. & Ree, M. Time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopic studies of imidization and structural evolution in a microscaled film of PMDA-3,4 '-ODA poly(amic acid). Langmuir 17, 7842–7850 (2001).
Snyder, R. W., Thomson, B., Bartges, B., Czerniawski, D. & Painter, P. C. FTIR studies of polymides: thermal curing. Macromolecules 22, 4166–4172 (1989).
Ando, S., Matsuura, T. & Nishi, S. 13C NMR analysis of fluorinated polyimides and poly(amic acid)s. Polymer 33, 2934–2939 (1992).
Kotera, M., Nishino, T. & Nakamae, K. Imidization processes of aromatic polyimide by temperature modulated DSC. Polymer 41, 3615–3619 (2000).
Chern, Y.-T Low dielectric constant polyimides derived from novel 1,6-Bis[4-(4-aminophenoxyl)phenyl]diamantane. Macromolecules 31, 5837–5844 (1998).
Wang, Y. W., Yen, C. T. & Chen, W. C. Photosensitive polyimide/silica hybrid optical materials: synthesis, properties, and patterning. Polymer 46, 6959–6967 (2005).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for the Global COE Program ‘Science for Future Molecular Systems’ from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology of Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on Polymer Journal website
Supplementary information
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Siqing, S., Wu, H. & Takahara, A. Morphology of nanoimprinted polyimide films fabricated via a controlled thermal history. Polym J 44, 1036–1041 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2012.53
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2012.53
