NanoImprint Lithography (NIL) is not a novel technology anymore1 but huge progress has been achieved for its industrial introduction since its first reporting. One of the main evolutions concerns the use soft stamp media2 ,which is now a standard technology. EVG introduced this technology with a full wafer imprint solution (the size of the stamp corresponds to the size of the wafer to print)3 and results obtained since five years are at the state of the art. Repeatability, uniformity, sub-50nm resolution and high aspect ratio patterns are addressed at the same time4–6 . Nevertheless, some challenges still remain, as e.g overlay7 and in particular the distortion phenomenona 8 , which contribute to the remaining overlay next to global translation and rotation. This study is focused on distortion effect which appears during NIL process using flexible backplanes and its minimization by using different materials. A polymer backplane is compared with a glass backplane which are used as carrier to the soft stamp material. A dedicated methodology to precisely measure this distortion is implemented to remove global alignment signature. Distortion signature is firstly evaluated with a standard soft stamp material and process of reference already established. Distortion fingerprint mapping is obtained for each wafer. Thanks to this mapping, a monitoring distortion plot is extracted, in order to follow the evolution of the distortion depending on wafers (wafer-to-wafer) and lots (lot-tolot). This study highlights that the use of a glass backplane developed by EVG clearly allows to improve the distortion in terms of magnitude but also of stability.
Scaling up from prototype to high volume manufacturing is a challenge for many technologies. In particular for waferlevel manufacturing of advanced freeform micro-optics, there is a gap which needs to be addressed. The combination of two-photon grayscale lithography (2GL), step and repeat nanoimprint lithography (S&R NIL) followed by SmartNIL® replication enables to expand design freedom while still being able to scale up from prototype to high volume manufacturing. This entire process flow was used to pattern microstructures with challenging freeform geometries which are required for emerging devices and applications across the photonics market. Additionally, to further increase the flexibility and performance of the devices, it is possible to use advanced high refractive index materials, which, so far, have been limited to applications in sub-micrometer thin layers, for freeform micro-optics and micro lens arrays. The results presented in this work provide an overview of the versatility and recent achievements of NIL in terms of structure sizes and shapes using different imprint resins to obtain even more design flexibility for freeform micro-optics and micro lens arrays.
Augmented reality glassed based on waveguides with diffraction gratings are the technology of choice for many device makers. They have evolved to provide excellent picture quality and large field of view to the users. However, the field of view is a key criterion for such waveguides and to further increase it the refractive index of the used materials has to be increased. With current manufacturing methods mostly nanoimprinted permanent polymers with inorganic high refractive nanoparticles are used. Commercial materials can already achieve refractive index of n=1.9 but it seems difficult to achieve refractive indices of n=2.0 and above. On the other side the glass substrates or coating are already available with a refractive index n=2.0 and higher and thus could be utilized directly for structuring the needed diffraction gratings. In this case a pattern transfer by etching is required which should enable binary grating designs as well as slanted grating. In this work the nanoimprint lithography patterning is investigated in combination with subsequent etching processes to achieve binary or slanted nanograting in high refractive TiO2 and glasses.
The NanoImprint Lithography (NIL) technology by using a soft stamp is today ready for high volume manufacturing (HVM) with the global solution proposed by EVG1. This UV-based imprint, using a transparent stamp is now a standard technology and the most common option for the full wafer imprint, meaning the size of the stamp correspond to the size of the wafer to print. Previous work has shown promising results with strong repeatability and uniformity in terms of critical dimension (CD)2. In 2017, larges features, bigger than 500 nm period, and shallow aspect ratio were qualified3. Latter in 20194, lithography and etching through a Si/SiO2 stack were demonstrated for 25 wafers imprinted in a single run:
- Depending on several diameters contact (from 100 to 50 nm) and densities (from 1:3 to 1:15).
- For line and space arrays with a density of 1:4 and variable spaces widths (from 100 to 50 nm).
In this paper we demonstrate that the limit of the patterns dimension can be pushed to sub-50 nm features thanks to EVG SmartNIL technology, the optimized EVGNIL-UV/AS2 soft stamp material with matching resist as well as the improvement of pattern transfer by dry etching. Based on CDSEM metrology, and SEM cross-sections, high fidelity and reproducibility were demonstrated, with 25 replications in a single run using the same soft stamp. Transfer compatibility of the imprint material was validated until 45 nm line, with 1:4 density. Furthermore, the process window of this NIL technology and its compatibility with applications as photonics and 3D patterning are discussed. The specific developments achieved around stripping of the substrates and the perspectives for low defectivity process are pointed out.
Wafer-level nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has increasingly become a key enabling technology to support new devices and applications across a wide range of markets. Leading manufacturers of augmented reality (AR) devices, optical sensors and biomedical chips are already utilizing NIL and realizing the benefits of this technology, including the ability to mass manufacture micro- and nano-scale structures down with a maximum degree of freedom for the device dimensions. Another key advantage of this replication based technology is, given by the fact that even complex structures which require precise and time consuming fabrication methods can be transferred to mass manufacturing in an efficient semiconductor manufacturing line. Additionally, for many devices especially for optical applications the replicated layer can be directly used as functional layer in the product. Today NIL is considered as decisive process step for a number of emerging products, including AR waveguides. With increasing volumes the scaling of the production lines is crucial for most economical implementation of NIL. In particular for scaling to production lines using 200mm or even 300mm wafer sizes, the whole process chain has to be established. This is in particular a focus for AR devices requiring highly complex structures with tight specifications. Thus best efforts for master fabrication are crucial to obtain best performing devices. For smaller substrates, typically full area masters are used to manufactured and used for the NIL process. However, as the masters are mainly fabricated by sequential processes the costs scale with the pattern area. For 200mm and 300mm it has been proven to be viable option to start with single high-quality devices and scale them by step and repeat (SR) NIL to fully populated waferscale masters and subsequently to use those for volume manufacturing on wafer-level. The wafer-level production itself requires then reliable replication of working stamps and wafer level nanoimprinting of these multiple devices on a single wafer. As a result it is key for the high volume manufacturing to have a thorough understanding of all required pattering and replications steps to enable these large area manufacturing lines.
In this paper the rules-based correction strategies for the nanoimprint lithography (NIL) technology are addressed using complete Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) characterizations. Performed onto 200 mm wafers imprinted with the HERCULES NIL equipment platform, Critical Dimension (CD) uniformity analyses are used to measure the evolution of lines and spaces features dimensions from the master to 50 consecutive imprints. The work brings focus on sub micrometer resolution features with duty cycles from 3 to 7. The silicon masters were manufactured with 193 optical lithography and dry etching and were fully characterized prior to the imprint process. Repeatability tests were performed over 50 wafers for two different processes to collect statistical and comparative data. The data revealed that the CD evolutions can be modelled by quadratic functions with respect to the number of imprints and feature dimension (CD and pitch) on the master. These models are used to establish the rules-based corrections for lines arrays in the scope of nanoimprint master manufacturing, and it opens the discussion on the process monitoring through metrology for the nanoimprint soft stamp technologies.
In this paper a first Critical Dimension (CD) uniformity assessment onto 200 mm wafers printed with the SmartNILTM technology available in the HERCULES® NIL equipment platform is proposed. The work brings focus on sub micrometer resolution features with a depth between 220 and 433 nm. The silicon masters were manufactured with 193 optical lithography and dry etching. A complete Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) characterizations were performed over the full masters surface prior to the imprint process. Repeatability tests were performed over 25 wafers first and then on 100 wafers to collect statistics and the CD distribution within a wafer and also wafer to wafer. The data revealed that the CD is evolving imprint after imprint and an explanation based on polymer shrinkage is proposed.
Nanoimprinting techniques are an attractive solution for next generation lithography methods for several areas including photonic devices. A variety of potential applications have been demonstrated using nanoimprint lithography (NIL) (e.g. SAW devices, vias and contact layers with dual damascene imprinting process, Bragg structures, patterned media) [1,2]. Nanoimprint lithography is considered for bridging the gap from R and D to high volume manufacturing. In addition, it is capable to adapt to the needs of the fragmented and less standardized photonic market easily. In this work UV-NIL has been selected for the fabrication process of 3D-photonic crystals. It has been shown that UVNIL using a multiple layer approach is well suited to fabricate a 3D woodpile photonic crystal. The necessary alignment accuracies below 100nm were achieved using a simple optical method. In order to obtain sufficient alignment of the stacks to each other, a two stage alignment process is performed: at first proximity alignment is done followed by the Moire´ alignment in soft contact with the substrate. Multiple steps of imprinting, etching, Si deposition and chemical mechanical polishing were implemented to create high quality 3D photonic crystals with up to 5 layers. This work has proven the applicability of nanoimprint lithography in a CMOS compatible process on 3D photonic crystals with alignment accuracy down to 100nm. Optimizing the processes will allow scaling up these structures on full wafers while still meeting the requirements of the designated devices.
We demonstrate mid-infrared continuous-wave vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers based on Bragg mirrors using
IV-VI semiconductors and BaF2. This material combination exhibits a high ratio between the refractive indices of up to
3.5, leading to a broad mirror stop band with a relative width of 75 %. Thus, mirror reflectivities higher than 99.7 % are
gained for only three layer pairs. Optical excitation of microcavity laser structures with a PbSe active region results in
stimulated emission at various cavity modes between 7.3 μm and 5.9 μm at temperatures between 54 K and 135 K. Laser
emission is evidenced by a strong line width narrowing with respect to the line width of the cavity mode and a clear laser
threshold at a pump power of 130 mW at 95 K. Furthermore, we study a similar microcavity but without an active
region. The resonance of such an empty microcavity has a narrow line width of 5.2 nm corresponding to a very high
finesse of 750, in good agreement to transfer matrix simulations and to the expected mirror reflectivities.
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