Articles Comprising Nanoscale Patterns With Reduced Edge Roughness and Methods of Making Same

Abstract

In accordance with the invention, an article comprising a nanoscale surface pattern, such as a grating, is provided with a nanoscale patterns of reduced edge and / or sidewall roughness. Smooth featured articles, can be fabricated by nanoimprint lithography using a mold having sloped profile molding features. Another approach uses a mold especially fabricated to provide smooth sidewalls of reduced roughness, and a third approach adds a post-imprint smoothing step. These approaches can be utilized individually or in various combinations to make the novel articles.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application claims priority from, and is a division of, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 732,038 filed on Dec. 10, 2003, which in turn, is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 046,594 filed on Oct. 29, 2001, which claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 107,006 filed on Jun. 30, 1998 (now U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,580 issued Oct. 30, 2001) and which, in turn, claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 558,809 filed on Nov. 15, 1995 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,905 issued Jun. 30, 1998). The foregoing '038, '594, '006, and '809 applications are each incorporated herein by reference.[0002]The '038 Application further claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 432,213 filed on Dec. 10, 2002 and also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60 / 432,216 filed on Dec. 10, 2002. The foregoing '213 and '216 provisional applications are each incorporated...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Studies have shown that roughness causes scattering loss in optical devices, impedes electron transport through nanoscale wires and degrades performance in bio-analytic and micro-fluidic systems.

A variety of approaches have been proposed for the fabrication of smooth nanoscale surface patterned devices, but most are unsuitable for large-scale production.

Electron beam lithography, however, is a serial processing technique of inherently low throughput.

Anisotropic wet etching, however, can only be used on a limited class of crystalline materials.

And thermal oxidation requires high temperature processing incompatible with many desirable materials.

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