Capillary imprinting technique
The present invention provides a method for patterning a substrate with a template having a mold that features positioning conformable material between the substrate and the mold and filling a volume defined between the mold and the substrate with the conformable material through capillary action between the conformable material and one of the mold and the substrate. Thereafter, the conformable material is solidified. Specifically, the distance between the mold and the substrate is controlled to a sufficient degree to attenuate, if not avoid, compressive forces between the mold and the substrate. As a result, upon initial contact of the mold with the conformable material, spontaneous capillary filling of the volume between the mold and the substrate occurs.
1. A method of patterning a substrate with a template having a mold, the method comprising:
positioning conformable material between the substrate and the mold;
filling a volume defined between the mold and the substrate with the conformable material through capillary action between the conformable material and one of the mold and the substrate;
applying a pulling force on at least one of the substrate and the mold to compensate for tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold associated with the capillary action, the pulling force minimizing magnitude of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulling force is applied by at least one of a substrate chuck coupled to the substrate and a template chuck coupled to the template.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein filling the volume further includes establishing a distance between the template and the conformable material to allow a sub-section of the template to contact the conformable material while minimizing variances in the distance to attenuate creation of compressive forces between the mold and the conformable material.
4. The method of claim 1 , further including solidifying the conformable material.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein applying the pulling force further includes maximizing a thickness uniformity of the solidified conformable material.
6. The method of claim 5 , further including applying the pulling force prior to solidifying the conformable material.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulling force minimizes the magnitude of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold to substantially zero.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the pulling force minimizes a magnitude of time compressive forces and tensile forces are upon the mold.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a pushing force on at least one of the substrate and the mold to compensate for tensile forces and compressive forces.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein applying the pulling force and applying the pushing force minimizes tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein applying the pulling force and the pushing force minimizes tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold to substantially zero.
12. The method of claim 9 , further including solidifying the conformable material, wherein applying the pulling force and applying the pushing force further includes maximizing a thickness uniformity of the solidified conformable material.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the pushing force is applied by at least one of an imprint head coupled to the template and a motion stage coupled to the substrate.
14. A method of patterning a substrate with a template having a mold, the method comprising:
positioning conformable material between the substrate and the mold; establishing a distance between the mold and the substrate to facilitate filling a volume defined between the mold and the substrate, the conformable material filled through capillary action between the conformable material and the mold and the substrate forming contiguous layer of the conformable material; and
applying a pulling force on at least one of the substrate and the mold to compensate for at least one of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold associated with the capillary action;
applying a pushing force on at least one of the substrate and the mold to compensate for at least one of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold associated with the capillary action;
wherein applying the pulling force and pushing force minimizes the magnitude of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein applying the pulling force and the pushing force minimizes the magnitude of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold to substantially zero.
16. The method of claim 14 , wherein establishing the distance further includes maintaining the distance to be within a predetermined range to attenuate creation of compressive forces between the mold and the conformable material.
17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising solidifying the conformable material, wherein applying the force further includes maximizing a thickness uniformity of the solidified conformable material.
18. A method of patterning a substrate with a template, the method comprising:
forming conformable material on the substrate;
placing the template in superimposition with the conformable material, with the template including a mold facing the conformable material;
moving the conformable material through capillary action between the mold and the substrate;
applying at least one of pulling forces and pushing forces on the substrate and the mold to compensate for at least one of tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold associated with the capillary action, wherein pulling forces and pushing forces minimize tensile forces and compressive forces upon the mold to substantially zero.