70 results about "Micropatterning" patented technology

Disclosed is a method for stripping a photoresist comprising: (I) providing a photoresist pattern on a substrate where the substrate has at least a copper (Cu) wiring and a low-dielectric layer thereon, and selectively etching the low-dielectric layer by using the photoresist pattern as a mask; (II) contacting the substrate after the step (I), with ozone water and / or aqueous hydrogen peroxide; and (III) contacting the substrate after the step (II), with a photoresist stripping solution that contains at least a quaternary ammonium hydroxide. The present invention provides a method for stripping a photoresist that enables to strip effectively photoresist films and etching residues after etching step even in a process not including an O2 plasma ashing treatment in micropatterning of a substrate having at least Cu wiring and a low-dielectric layer thereon, as in a dual damascene forming process, and, in addition, the method of the invention does not have any negative influence on the dielectric constant of the low-dielectric layer, and ensures an excellent anti-corrosivity.

The methods, apparatus and systems disclosed herein concern ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes. In particular embodiments of the invention, the nanotube arrays are formed by a method comprising attaching catalyst nanoparticles 140, 230 to polymer 120, 210 molecules, attaching the polymer 120, 210 molecules to a substrate, removing the polymer 120, 210 molecules and producing carbon nanotubes on the catalyst nanoparticles 140, 230. The polymer 120, 210 molecules can be attached to the substrate in ordered patterns, using self-assembly or molecular alignment techniques. The nanotube arrays can be attached to selected areas 110, 310 of the substrate. Within the selected areas 110, 310, the nanotubes are distributed non-randomly. Other embodiments disclosed herein concern apparatus that include ordered arrays of nanotubes attached to a substrate and systems that include ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes attached to a substrate, produced by the claimed methods. In certain embodiments, provided herein are methods for aligning a molecular wire, by ligating the molecular wire to a double stranded DNA molecule.

The present invention is drawn to the generation of micropatterns of biomolecules and cells on standard laboratory materials through selective ablation of a physisorbed biomolecule with oxygen plasma. In certain embodiments, oxygen plasma is able to ablate selectively physisorbed layers of biomolecules (e.g., type-I collagen, fibronectin, laminin, and Matrigel) along complex non-linear paths which are difficult or impossible to pattern using alternative methods. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to the micropatterning of multiple cell types on curved surfaces, multiwell plates, and flat bottom flasks. The invention also features kits for use with the subject methods.

A positive resist composition comprising a resin component having a solubility in an alkaline developer that increases under the action of an acid, a compound capable of generating an acid in response to actinic radiation, and an acidic organic compound having a molecular weight of at least 150 exhibits a high resolution and is effective in minimizing defects when processed by the photolithography. The composition is thus quite effective for precise micropatterning.

A method for surface micropatterning includes forming on a surface containing a first polymer a first coating containing a second polymer having first functionalities capable of being converted to second functionalities by exposure to an acid. A second coating containing a photoacid generator is formed on the first coating. The second coating containing the photoacid generator is selectively irradiated in one or more regions thereof with radiation having a spatially varying internsity pattern to generate an acid in each irradiated region of the second coating. The acid converts the first functionalities of each region of the second polymer underlying a respective irradiated region of the second coating to second functionalities. A first molecular patterned surface having one or more regions of the first functionalities and one or more regions of the second functionalities is formed.

In the method, which is to be carried out on a computer system, firstly design data of a semiconductor substrate are read in and, on the basis thereof, a mask image is generated in the form of a data structure with contact holes and with auxiliary structures on the computer system. Afterwards, contact hole biases are determined by means of an optical proximity correction method and the relevant contact holes are corrected on the basis of these contact hole biases. By means of subsequent imaging simulation of the mask image on the semiconductor substrate, undesired imaging auxiliary structures and contact holes deviating from specified tolerances on the semiconductor substrate are detected and corrected. During the imaging simulation of the mask image, a mask bias is employed in order to compensate for three-dimensional mask effects. A real mask can be produced on the basis of the mask image thus determined.

A polymer comprising units of formulas (1) and (2) and having a Mw of 1,000-500,000 is provided. R1 is H, CH3 or CH2CO2R3, R2 is H, CH3 or CO2R3, R3 is alkyl, R4 is H, alkyl, alkoxyalkyl or acyl, R5 is alkyl or aryl, Y is a divalent hydrocarbon group which may contain a hetero atom and which forms a ring with the carbon atom, Z is a trivalent hydrocarbon group, k is 0 or 1, and W is -O- or -(NR)- wherein R is H or alkyl. A resist composition comprising the polymer as a base resin is sensitive to high-energy radiation, has excellent sensitivity, resolution, and etching resistance, and lends itself to micropatterning with electron beams or deep-UV rays.

Adhesive articles containing microtopography, such as microprotrusions, and a coating of adhesive glue, such an adhesive having known toxicity and / or tissue reactive functional groups are described herein. The articles described herein contain a substrate, a plurality of microfeatures, and an adhesive, such as an adhesive glue. The articles described herein exhibit a 90° pull off adhesion of at least about 1.5 N / cm2. The articles described herein can contain less adhesive than when the adhesive is used alone without microtopography and yet exhibit equivalent adhesive strength with little or no toxicity or other adverse side effects (e.g., exothermic reaction).

A polymer comprising recurring units of formulae (1) to (4) wherein R1, R3, R4 and R7 are hydrogen or methyl, R2 is an acid labile group, R5 and R6 are hydrogen or hydroxyl, and R8 is a lactone structure group and having a Mw of 1,000-50,000 is provided. A resist composition comprising the inventive polymer has a sensitivity to high-energy radiation, improved resolution and etching resistance and lends itself to lithographic micropatterning with electron beams or deep UV.

Prior known static random access memory (SRAM) cells are required that a diffusion layer be bent into a key-like shape in order to make electrical contact with a substrate with a P-type well region formed therein, which would result in a decrease in asymmetry leading to occurrence of a problem as to the difficulty in micropatterning. To avoid this problem, the P-type well region in which an inverter making up an SRAM cell is formed is subdivided into two portions, which are disposed on the opposite sides of an N-type well region NW1 and are formed so that a diffusion layer forming a transistor has no curvature while causing the layout direction to run in a direction parallel to well boundary lines and bit lines. At intermediate locations of an array, regions for use in supplying power to the substrate are formed in parallel to word lines in such a manner that one regions is provided per group of thirty two memory cell rows or sixty four cell rows.

Novel ester compounds having a sulfonamide structure are polymerizable into polymers having improved transparency at wavelength of up to 300 nm, especially ArF excimer laser light, and dry etching resistance. Resist compositions comprising the polymers are sensitive to high-energy radiation, have a high resolution, and lend themselves to micropatterning with electron beams or deep-UV rays.

A sulfonium salt comprising (a) a polymerizable substituent, (b) a sulfonium cation, and (c) a sulfonate anion within a common molecule is capable of generating a sulfonic acid in response to high-energy radiation or heat. A resist composition comprising the sulfonium salt as base resin has high resolution and is suited for precise micropatterning by ArF immersion, EB or EUV lithography.

A sensor, in particular for the spatially resolved detection, includes a substrate, at least one micropatterned sensor element having an electric characteristic whose value varies as a function of the temperature, and at least one diaphragm above a cavity, the sensor element being disposed on the underside of the at least one diaphragm, and the sensor element being contacted via connecting lines, which extend within, on top of or underneath the diaphragm. In particular, a plurality of sensor elements may be formed as diode pixels within a monocrystalline layer formed by epitaxy. Suspension springs, which accommodate the individual sensor elements in elastic and insulating fashion, may be formed within the diaphragm.

The methods, apparatus and systems disclosed herein concern ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes. In particular embodiments of the invention, the nanotube arrays are formed by a method comprising attaching catalyst nanoparticles 140, 230 to polymer 120, 210 molecules, attaching the polymer 120, 210 molecules to a substrate, removing the polymer 120, 210 molecules and producing carbon nanotubes on the catalyst nanoparticles 140, 230. The polymer 120, 210 molecules can be attached to the substrate in ordered patterns, using self-assembly or molecular alignment techniques. The nanotube arrays can be attached to selected areas 110, 310 of the substrate. Within the selected areas 110, 310, the nanotubes are distributed non-randomly. Other embodiments disclosed herein concern apparatus that include ordered arrays of nanotubes attached to a substrate and systems that include ordered arrays of carbon nanotubes attached to a substrate, produced by the claimed methods. In certain embodiments, provided herein are methods for aligning a molecular wire, by ligating the molecular wire to a double stranded DNA molecule.

The invention discloses a micro-patterned wetted surface, a preparation method of the micro-patterned wetted surface, and the micro-patterned wetted surface applicable to a spray cooling device. The surface has metal as the substrate, and has the patterned non-uniform wettability; the patterned non-uniformity is that: hydrophilic areas are uniformly distributed in a hydrophobic area; the thickness is 50-500 nm; the contact angle of pure water on the surface of the hydrophilic part is 0-45 DEG; and the contact angle of a hydrophobic part is 135-175 DEG. The spray cooling device is characterized in that a heat exchange surface is directly contacted with the micro-patterned wetted surface; due to the surface, saturated boiling evaporation of a working medium under the high heat flux density is easy; the thickness of a liquid film is reduced; formation of steam bubbles is easy; the critical heat flux density is increased; and simultaneously, retention and scaling of the working medium are reduced. The micro-patterned wetted surface disclosed by the invention is simple in preparation process, free from pollution, easy to operate, good in surface quality and low in cost, and has wide application prospect and huge market benefits in the aspects, such as heat exchangers and sea water desalination.

Composite structures and methods for generating micropatterned materials suitable for use in cell culture applications are disclosed. The improvement of these compositions and methods over the prior art is based on the unexpected discovery that minor chemical modifications can be introduced to greatly enhance the adherence and / or stability of a cell-adhesive material. The micropatterned materials are inexpensive to manufacture, have long shelf-life, and are stable for prolonged periods of time under cell-culture conditions. Moreover, biologists can use these micropatterned substrates with the same ease as conventional cultureware and without the need for special sample preparation.

The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for micro-patterning organic layers of OLEDs. The disclosed methods do not require applying pressure to the film, nor do they require heat treatment, surface treatment or fast release rate of a stamp from the substrate. The disclosed methods are particularly advantageous over the conventional shadow masking techniques for providing large array fabrication with small features. In one embodiment of the disclosure, one or more organic films are selected for the OLED as a function of their individual or combined sublimation temperature. The material is selected in view of the depth and shape of the features that are to be formed in the organic layer. The disclosed embodiments can provide minimum feature size of 13 μm which is suitable for high resolution OLED displays.

A hydroxystyrene / indene / alkoxyisobutoxystyrene copolymer having Mw of 1,000-500,000 is formulated as a base resin to give a resist composition, typically chemically amplified positive resist composition. The composition exhibits a high resolution, a satisfactory resist pattern profile after development, and improved etch resistance and is thus suitable as a micropatterning material for the fabrication of VLSI.

In the method, which is to be carried out on a computer system, firstly design data of a semiconductor substrate are read in and, on the basis thereof, a mask image is generated in the form of a data structure with contact holes and with auxiliary structures on the computer system. Afterwards, contact hole biases are determined by means of an optical proximity correction method and the relevant contact holes are corrected on the basis of these contact hole biases. By means of subsequent imaging simulation of the mask image on the semiconductor substrate, undesired imaging auxiliary structures and contact holes deviating from specified tolerances on the semiconductor substrate are detected and corrected. During the imaging simulation of the mask image, a mask bias is employed in order to compensate for three-dimensional mask effects. A real mask can be produced on the basis of the mask image thus determined.

A method and apparatus for the fabrication of polymeric microfluidic devices through sequential photolithographic polymerization of micropatterned polymeric layers.

A method of micropatterning a substrate is provided. The method comprises providing a template substrate having a patterned surface inked with a composition of interest; contacting the patterned surface with an intermediate substrate, thereby transferring the composition to the surface of the intermediate substrate; contacting the surface of the intermediate substrate comprising the composition with the substrate; and removing the intermediate substrate by dissolution using a solvent. A patterned substrate formed using the method, as well as a biosensor comprising the patterned substrate is also provided.

The invention discloses a preparation method of a hydroxyapatite micropatterning surface having an antibacterial property. The preparation method comprises the following main steps: firstly preparing a framework with a micro / nano-scale topological structure on a silicon material substrate; then preparing a hydroxyapatite target; then preparing a hydroxyapatite ultra-thin coating; finally thermally treating to obtain the hydroxyapatite micropatterning surface. The prepared micropatterning surface provides a non-medication strategy capable of producing the antibacterial property purely through the physical pattern and the size effect without the aid of chemical ingredients or medicine ingredients, as the antibacterial property is produced without the aid of medicines like antibiotics, the drug allergic reaction of a patient is effectively avoided, and the body burden of the patient is greatly alleviated.

The present invention discloses the formation of a hard mask layer in an organic polymer layer by modifying at least locally the chemical composition of a part of said exposed organic low-k polymer. This modification starts from an exposed surface of the polymer and extends into the polymer thereby increasing the chemical resistance of the modified part of the polymer. As a result, this modified part can be used as a hard mask or an etch stop layer for plasma etching.

Adhesive articles containing microtopography, such as microprotrusions, and a coating of adhesive glue, such an adhesive having known toxicity and / or tissue reactive functional groups are described herein. The articles described herein contain a substrate, a plurality of microfeatures, and an adhesive, such as an adhesive glue. The articles described herein exhibit a 90° pull off adhesion of at least about 1.5 N / cm2. The articles described herein can contain less adhesive than when the adhesive is used alone without microtopography and yet exhibit equivalent adhesive strength with little or no toxicity or other adverse side effects (e.g., exothermic reaction).

The present invention is drawn to the generation of micropatterns of biomolecules and cells on standard laboratory materials through selective ablation of a physisorbed biomolecule with oxygen plasma. In certain embodiments, oxygen plasma is able to ablate selectively physisorbed layers of biomolecules (e.g., type-I collagen, fibronectin, laminin, and Matrigel) along complex non-linear paths which are difficult or impossible to pattern using alternative methods. In addition, certain embodiments of the present invention relate to the micropatterning of multiple cell types on curved surfaces, multiwell plates, and flat bottom flasks. The invention also features kits for use with the subject methods.

A monomer having an onium salt structure represented by formula (1) gives a polymer which is fully compatible with resist components. A resist composition comprising the polymer has advantages including reduced acid diffusion, high sensitivity, high resolution, a good balance of lithography properties, and less defects, and is quite effective for precise micropatterning.

The present disclosure describes hydrogels which are micropatterned with a network of wells for cell culture. In a preferred embodiment, the micropatterned hydrogels are embedded with a nanomaterial. Further described are methods of forming the micropatterned hydrogels and methods of culturing cells in the micropatterned hydrogels. The hydrogels can be natural or synthetic.

Novel polymerizable ester compounds having formulae (1) to (4) undergo no acid-induced decomposition by β-elimination wherein A1 is a polymerizable functional group having a carbon-carbon double bond, R1 is H or —C—(R5)3, R2 and R3 are alkyl, R4 is H or alkyl, R5 is a monovalent hydrocarbon group, X is alkylene, Y is methylene, ethylene or isopropylidene, Z is alkylene, and n=1 or 2. Resist compositions comprising polymers derived from the ester compounds have excellent sensitivity and resolution and lend themselves to micropatterning lithography.

A method for surface micropatterning includes forming on a surface containing a first polymer a first coating containing a second polymer having first functionalities capable of being converted to second functionalities by exposure to an acid. A second coating containing a photoacid generator is formed on the first coating. The second coating containing the photoacid generator is selectively irradiated in one or more regions thereof with radiation having a spatially varying internsity pattern to generate an acid in each irradiated region of the second coating. The acid converts the first functionalities of each region of the second polymer underlying a respective irradiated region of the second coating to second functionalities. A first molecular patterned surface having one or more regions of the first functionalities and one or more regions of the second functionalities is formed.