ABSTRACT
Many may not realize that the phenomenal progress in the field of microelectronics that has led to our personal computers becoming faster, our laptops being smaller, and given us devices such as touch screens, touchpads, and flexible displays, may be attributed to the development of a surface
CONTENTS
4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 111 4.2 Soft Lithography Techniques ................................................................... 114
4.2.1 Replica Molding ............................................................................. 115 4.2.2 Micro Contact Printing ................................................................. 117 4.2.3 Micro Molding in Capillaries ....................................................... 118 4.2.4 Micro Transfer Molding ................................................................ 119 4.2.5 Capillary Force Lithography ........................................................ 121 4.2.6 Nano Imprint Lithography ........................................................... 124
4.3 Beyond Conventional Soft Lithography: Some Recent Developments ............................................................................................. 126 4.3.1 Adhesive Force Assisted Imprinting of Soft Solids .................. 128 4.3.2 Patterns Miniaturization by Successive Shrinkage .................. 132 4.3.3 Elastic Contact Lithography ......................................................... 134
4.3.3.1 Elastic Contact Lithography with a Patterned Substrate ........................................................................... 135
4.3.3.2 Control of Elastic Contact Instability Length Scale with a Bilayer ................................................................... 137
4.3.3.3 Elastic Contact Lithography with an Elastic Bilayer .. 139 4.4 Outlook and Future Directions................................................................ 142 References ............................................................................................................. 144
patterning technique called photolithography (Madou, 2002). This technique is used for creating fine patterns or structures on the surface of an optically active polymer layer known as photoresist. The photoresist film is exposed to an optical illumination source through a mask that contains a 2D projection of the final desired structure. In classical silicon-based microelectronics, the photolithographically patterned structures are used to create P-N junctions on silicon by doping and etching for fabricating microelectronic processors. Several books (Moreau, 1988) and review papers on this topic are already available, but a detailed discussion on photolithography is beyond the scope of this chapter.
