Good old Gutenberg could not have imagined that his revolutionary printing concept which so greatly contributed to dissemination of knowledge and thus today 's wealth, would have been a source of inspiration five hundred years later. Now, it seems intuitive that a simple way to produce a large number of replicates is using a mold to emboss pattern you need, but at the nanoscale nothing is simple: the devil is in the detail. And this book is about the "devil". In the following 17 chapters, the authors-all of them well recognized and active actors in this emerging field-describe the state-of-the-art, today 's technological bottlenecks and the prospects for micro-contact printing and nanoimprint lithography. Many results of this book originate from projects funded by the European Com mission through its "Nanotechnology Information Devices" (NID) initiative. NID was launched with the objective to develop nanoscale devices for the time when the red brick scenario of the ITRS roadmap would be reached. It became soon clear however, that there was no point to investigate only alternative devices to CMOS, but what was really needed was an integrated approach that took into account more facets of this difficult undertaking. Technologically speaking , this meant to have a coherent strategy to develop novel devices, nanofabrication tools and circuit & system architectures at the same time.

Inhalt

1. Alternative Lithography.- 1.1 Introduction.- 1.2 Moulding polymers in the nanometer scale.- 1.3 Microcontact printing.- 1.4 Scanning probe aproaches.- 1.5 Applications.- 1.6 Recent nanofabrication experiments.- 1.7 Status and perspectives.- 2. Nanoimprint Lithography.- 2.1 Introduction.- 2.2 Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) Principle and process.- 2.3 Resolution.- 2.4 3-D patterning.- 2.5 Imprint over non-flat surfaces.- 2.6 Uniformity and submicron alignment over 4 inch wafers.- 2.7 Different imprint machines.- 2.8 Applications.- 2.9 Summary and future.- 3. Viscoelastic Properties of Polymers.- 3.1 Introduction.- 3.2 Squeezing flow of a Newtonian liquid in HEL.- 3.3 Viscoelastic properties of polymers.- 4. Nanorheology.- 4.1 Introduction.- 4.2 Basics of thin film rheology.- 4.3 Hot embossing in practice.- 4.4 Looking ahead.- 5. Wafer Scale Nanoimprint Lithography.- 5.1 Introduction.- 5.2 Special requirements for large wafer scale NIL.- 5.3 Fabrication of a nanoimprint lithography system.- 5.4 Nil Equipment design.- 5.5 Imprint processing.- 5.6 Discussion and conclusions.- 6. Step And Stamp Imprint Lithography.- 6.1 Introduction.- 6.2 Step and stamp imprinting lithography.- 6.3 Pattern transfer using step and stamp imprint lithography.- 6.4 Mix and match with UV lithography.- 6.5 Pattern reproduction.- 6.6 Conclusions.- 7. Step and Flash Imprint Lithography.- 7.1 Introduction.- 7.2 Process overview.- 7.3 Template fabrication.- 7.4 Surface treatment.- 7.5 Etch barrier.- 7.6 Reliability.- 7.7 Patterning results.- 8. Using PDMS as a thermocurable resist for a mold assisted imprint process.- 8.1 Introduction.- 8.2 PDMS material.- 8.3 Technological implementation.- 8.4 Results.- 8.5 Conclusions and domains of application.- 9. Molecules for Microcontact Printing.- 9.1 Introduction.- 9.2 Quality of printed SAMs.- 9.3 Microcontact printing of etch resists.- 9.4 Printing functional adsorbates.- 9.5 Printing on other substrates.- 9.6 Microcontact printing in bio-applications.- 9.7 Conclusions.- 10. Microcontact Printing Techniques.- 10.1 Introduction.- 10.2 The self-assembly of alkanethiols.- 10.3 The stamp.- 10.4 Properties of poly(dimethyl siloxane) elastomers.- 10.5 Stamps for microcontact printing.- 10.6 Stamp fabrication.- 10.7 The microcontact printing process.- 10.8 Substrates for microcontact printing.- 10.9 Printing conditions.- 10.10 Chemical etching.- 10.11 Microcontact printing using ultrathin stamps.- 10.12 A multilevel process: Mix and Match with accurate alignment of the RCP.- 11. Local Oxidation Nanolithography.- 11.1 Introduction.- 11.2 Local oxidation modes.- 11.3 Liquid meniscus.- 11.4 Kinetics.- 11.5 Mechanism.- 11.6 Substrates.- 11.7 Resolution.- 11.8 Applications.- 12. Combined Approaches for Nanoelectronic Device Fabrication.- 12.1 Introduction.- 12.2 Fabrication of nanoelectronic devices.- 12.3 Mold fabrication.- 12.4 Alignment.- 12.5 Alternative polymers.- 12.6 Characterization.- 13. Application of Nanoimprint Lithography in Magnetism.- 13.1 Introduction.- 13.2 Physics of patterned magnetic structures.- 13.3 Nanoimprint lithography parameters.- 13.4 Patterned magnetic nanostructures.- 13.5 Conclusion.- 14. Application of Microcontact Printing and Nanoimprint Lithography.- 14.1 Introduction.- 14.2 Process.- 14.3 Nanoimprinting of point contacts.- 15. Optical Applications of Nanoimprint Lithography.- 15.1 Introduction.- 15.2 Candidates for and examples of printed optical devices.- 15.3 Nanoimprint lithography of photonic devices.- 15.4 Outlook and conclusion.- 16. Biotechnology Applications of NIL.- 16.1 Introduction.- 16.2 Introduction to NIL.- 16.3 Biotechnical application areas for NIL.- 16.4 Examples.- 17. Soft Lithography and Imprint-Based Techniques for Microfluidics and Biological Analysis.- 17.1 Introduction.- 17.2 Soft lithography.- 17.3 Imprint-based techniques.- 17.4 Conclusions and perspectives.