Fabrication of metallic stamps for injection moulding applications by combining proton beam writing and UV lithography

In this paper, we present the results of resist evaluation for the fabrication of metallic stamps used in the injection moulding of micro/nano fluidic devices. The resist was evaluated in terms of its suitability to combine direct proton beam writing (PBW) and UV lithography techniques for incorporating few tens of micron and micron- to millimeter sized features respectively. In a first step PBW is used to generate the fine features with smooth sidewall profiles in AR-P 3250, here the resist shows negative behavior. Following PBW, masked i-line UV lithography was used to create larger features to complete the device design, here the AR-P 3250 acts as a positive resist. After developing, the resist was used to generate the final mould through Ni electroplating, resulting in a high quality metallic stamp.