Mediaspace scheduled maintenance: Aug 25, 2026 07:00 - 12:00 AM. During this time, videos will be temporarily unavailable. Check status updates.

Lecture

Nanoimprint Lithography: Emerging Nanopatterning Methods

In course

MICRO-530: Nanotechnology

This course gives the basics for understanding nanotechnology from an engineer's perspective: physical background, materials aspects and scaling laws, fabrication and imaging of nanoscale devices. ...

Description

This lecture covers the basics of lithography, including deep ultraviolet lithography and focused electron beam lithography. It also delves into emerging nanopatterning methods such as nanoimprint lithography, soft-lithography, and nanostencil lithography. The instructor discusses the nanoimprint process model, issues with thermal nanoimprint lithography, and provides examples of nanoimprint lithography applications in mass production and high-end microelectronic chips.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Instructors (2)

Giovanni Boero

Jürgen Brugger

I am a Professor of Microengineering and co-affiliated to Materials Science. Before joining EPFL I was at the MESA Research Institute of Nanotechnology at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, and at the Hitachi Central Research Laboratory, in Tokyo, Japan. I received a Master in Physical-Electronics and a PhD degree from Neuchâtel University, Switzerland. Research in my laboratory focuses on various aspects of MEMS and Nanotechnology. My group contributes to the field at the fundamental level as well as in technological development, as demonstrated by the start-ups that spun off from the lab. In our research, key competences are in micro/nanofabrication, additive micro-manufacturing, new materials for MEMS, increasingly for wearable and biomedical applications. Together with my students and colleagues we published over 200 peer-refereed papers and I had the pleasure to supervise over 25 PhD students. Former students and postdocs have been successful in receiving awards and starting their own scientific careers. I am honoured for the appointment in 2016 as Fellow of the IEEE “For contributions to micro and nano manufacturing technology”. In 2017 my lab was awarded an ERC AdvG in the field of advanced micro-manufacturing.

Official source

Related concepts (14)

Nanolithography

Nanolithography (NL) is a growing field of techniques within nanotechnology dealing with the engineering (patterning e.g. etching, depositing, writing, printing etc) of nanometer-scale structures on various materials. The modern term reflects on a design of structures built in range of 10−9 to 10−6 meters, i.e. nanometer scale. Essentially, the field is a derivative of lithography, only covering very small structures. All NL methods can be categorized into four groups: photo lithography, scanning lithography, soft lithography and other miscellaneous techniques.

Nanoimprint lithography

Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a method of fabricating nanometer scale patterns. It is a simple nanolithography process with low cost, high throughput and high resolution. It creates patterns by mechanical deformation of imprint resist and subsequent processes. The imprint resist is typically a monomer or polymer formulation that is cured by heat or UV light during the imprinting. Adhesion between the resist and the template is controlled to allow proper release.

Photolithography

In integrated circuit manufacturing, photolithography or optical lithography is a general term used for techniques that use light to produce minutely patterned thin films of suitable materials over a substrate, such as a silicon wafer, to protect selected areas of it during subsequent etching, deposition, or implantation operations. Typically, ultraviolet light is used to transfer a geometric design from an optical mask to a light-sensitive chemical (photoresist) coated on the substrate.

Interference lithography

Interference lithography (or holographic lithography) is a technique for patterning regular arrays of fine features, without the use of complex optical systems or photomasks. The basic principle is the same as in interferometry or holography. An interference pattern between two or more coherent light waves is set up and recorded in a recording layer (photoresist). This interference pattern consists of a periodic series of fringes representing intensity minima and maxima.

Extreme ultraviolet lithography

Extreme ultraviolet lithography (also known as EUV or EUVL) is an optical lithography technology used in semiconductor device fabrication to make integrated circuits (ICs). It uses extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelengths near 13.5 nm, using a laser-pulsed tin (Sn) droplet plasma (Sn ions in the ionic states from Sn IX to Sn XIV give photon emission spectral peaks around 13.5 nm from 4p64dn - 4p54dn+1 + 4dn-14f ionic state transitions.), to produce a pattern by using a reflective photomask to expose a substrate covered by photoresist.

Related lectures (33)

Advanced Nanomanufacturing: Lithography & Self-Assembly

Delves into advanced nanomanufacturing techniques, including lithography and block copolymer self-assembly for precise device fabrication.

Lithography: Alternative Patterning Methods MOOC: Micro and Nanofabrication (MEMS)

Explores alternative lithography methods like nanoimprint and stencil lithography for nanowire fabrication and exotic surface patterning.

Lithography: Tools and Techniques MOOC: Micro and Nanofabrication (MEMS)

Covers the principles and tools used in lithography for micro and nanofabrication.

Microfabrication Technologies

Explores microfabrication technologies, lithography, MEMS, cleanroom processes, resolution enhancement, phase shift masks, and chip manufacturing complexity.

Lithography: Microfabrication Technologies