Fabrication of seamless roller mould with smooth surface microstructures by rotation lithography and reflow process. (1st July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ji, Chao; Li, Mujun; Qiu, Jinfeng; Zhu, Junjie; Ye, Huichun
• Is Part Of: Micro & nano letters. Volume 13:Number 7(2018)
• Page Start: 1052
• Page End: 1056
• Publication Date: 2018-07-01
• Subjects: surface structure -- optical fabrication -- photolithography -- optical arrays -- microfabrication -- moulding -- micromirrors; thermal reflow process -- seamless roller mould -- rotation lithography -- roller imprinting lithography -- fabrication method -- uniform speed PR‐coating process -- three‐dimensional smooth surface microstructures -- seamless microstripe array -- digital micromirrors device based maskless lithography projection -- incremental step‐and‐rotate exposure process -- numerical simulations -- gravitational effect; Nanotechnology -- Periodicals; Nanostructures -- Periodicals; Microtechnology -- Periodicals; 620.5
• DOI: 10.1049/mnl.2018.0155
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1750-0443

Abstract

Abstract : In this work, the authors conducted a versatile approach for an innovative fabrication of a seamless micro‐stripes array on the roller which is as a mould for roller imprinting lithography. The major steps in the proposed fabrication method include an uniform speed PR‐coating process, followed by a digital micromirrors device based maskless lithography projection and an incremental step‐and‐rotate exposure process. In addition to above‐mentioned steps, a following thermal reflow process was performed to transform the micro‐stripes into smooth surface microstructures. The study also analysed the mechanism of the reflow process by numerical simulations and experiments. The mechanism includes the gravitational effect and the definition of the four stages of the reflow process. Study results show that the reflow process on the roller is feasible and the proposed method is a promising approach for fabricating three‐dimensional smooth surface microstructures on the roller with different requirements.