Uniformity in patterns imprinted using photo-curable liquid polymer

Imprint lithography reported by Chou et al (Appl. Phys. Lett. vol. 67, p. 3114, 1995) may become one of the most promising lithographic technologies in terms of mass-production and low equipment cost . In particular, those based on photo-induced solidification (Haisma et al, 1996; Bailey et al, 2000) are very attractive because of elimination of heat-up and cool-down time and the possibility of a step and repeat procedure. We have already reported preliminary results (Komuro et al, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., vol. 39, p. 7075, 2000) by imprint using liquid polymer curable by ultra-violet (UV) light exposure. The paper shows the pattern fabrication process by imprint using photo-curable liquid polymer. The base layer, which is accompanied with a press process, must be removed by etching. In this paper, we describe uniformity in imprinted patterns and reproducibility of our imprint process.