| Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has been developed and studied since 1995. It is a technique where micro- or nanoscale patterns are transferred to soft materials such as polymer through pressing a stamp with certain patterns into this materials and then solidifying it by cooling at lower temperature or curing under ultra violet excitement.;High Cost and low throughput of batch mode nanoimprint lithography (NIL) processes are limiting its wide range of applications in meeting industry manufacturing requirements. The roll-to-roll (R2R) nanoimprinting technology is emerged as a solution to this issue. This thesis study presents the design, build and test of an innovative R2R T-NIL process machine for nanofabrication and MEMS fabrication applications, which consists of individual modules of heating, inking, pressuring, and rotational speed control.;The system utilizes PDMS as mold material, PMMA as imprinting material, and paper as substrate material. In order to achieve a uniform pressure on PMMA during imprinting process, an innovative air pressure device (APD) was developed and integrated with R2R machine. The APD replaces the conventional 2-roll line contact pressure approach and can cover one third of the surface of the imprinting roller with a uniform pressure (1-3 psi). During the imprinting experiment, a mixture of PMMA (20w %) and 2-Ethoxyethyl acetate is applied on the paper substrate by an inking roller using capillary force and an IR heater is used for pre-heating and drying of polymer layers before it is fed into the imprinting module. Two 500-Watt cartridge heaters are installed on the roller and provide the heat to raise the PMMA film temperature during the imprinting. |
