Fabrication of a silicon oxide stamp by edge lithography reinforced with silicon nitride for nanoimprint lithography

Abstract

The fabrication of a stamp reinforced with silicon nitride is presented for its use in nanoimprint lithography. The fabrication process is based on edge lithography using conventional optical lithography and wet anisotropic etching of 1 1 0 silicon wafers. SiO 2 nano-ridges of 20 nm in width were fabricated. A silicon rich nitride layer is deposited over the original SiO 2 nano-ridges to improve the ridge strength and to achieve a positive tapered shape which is beneficial for nanoimprinting. A replica of the nano-ridges with silicon rich nitride shield is obtained by imprinting the stamp into thermoplastic nanoimprint polymer mr-I 7010E.