Seamless Large Area Master Templates for Imprint Lithography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for fabricating large area wire grid polarizers (WGPs) face challenges in scaling up while maintaining seamless patterns, as existing technologies result in undesirable disruptions or seams at the interface of adjacent fields due to limitations in resolution and manufacturing costs, making it difficult to integrate WGP technology into mainstream large area display applications.
Innovation Solution
The development of methods for creating large area seamless patterns using high-end optical steppers and scanners, combined with imprint lithography processes, which employ optical proximity correction (OPC) and field offsetting strategies to ensure adjacent fields print seamlessly, allowing for the creation of master templates with features as small as 40 nm and larger areas without visible defects.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional imprint lithography methods are used to fabricate large area wire grid polarizers, then production cost is reduced, but visible seams and disruptions appear at the interface of adjacent fields
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the large area WGP fabrication into multiple adjacent fields that are processed separately and then stitched together. Each field is imprinted independently using conventional imprint lithography tools, allowing cost-effective production while maintaining overall pattern continuity through careful alignment and design of the field boundaries.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different processing conditions or parameters to different regions (fields) of the substrate. By optimizing local printing parameters for each field and using appropriate overlap or abutment strategies at field boundaries, the method achieves seamless appearance across the entire large area while maintaining cost-effectiveness.
2Manufacturing precision
If high-end optical steppers and scanners with OPC and field offsetting are used, then pattern seamlessness is achieved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies optical proximity correction (OPC) and field offsetting strategies during the design and preparation phase before actual imprinting. By pre-calculating and correcting for potential seam issues in the mask design and field arrangement, the method achieves seamless patterns without requiring complex real-time adjustments during manufacturing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses computational algorithms and simulation tools as intermediaries to predict and correct pattern formation behavior across field boundaries. These software-based solutions enable seamless pattern achievement without requiring physically complex hardware modifications to the imprint lithography system.
3Measurement precision
If feature size is reduced to 40 nm or smaller, then resolution is improved, but manufacturing difficulty and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses master templates with 40 nm or smaller features that are fabricated using high-precision methods, then replicates these patterns through imprint lithography onto multiple substrates. By creating a single high-precision master template and using it to copy patterns at lower cost, the method achieves high resolution without the manufacturing difficulty and cost of directly fabricating each substrate at that resolution.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the production of large area WGPs and other optical devices with seamless patterns, improving display performance, reducing power consumption, and extending battery lifetime by eliminating seams between fields, thus making WGP technology suitable for broader applications beyond small markets.
Implementation Method 1
a lithography system useful for printing large area seamless patterns on a substrate includes a lithography system useful for creating a seamless pattern over a large area on a substrate
Implementation Method 2
The patterning process uses a template spaced apart from the substrate and a formable liquid applied between the template and the substrate. The formable liquid is solidified to form a rigid layer that has a pattern conforming to a shape of the surface of the template
Data Source
AI summary
Described are methods of forming large area templates useful for patterning large area optical devices including e.g. wire grid polarizers (WGPs). Such methods provide for seamless patterning of such large area devices.