Substrate pretreatment and etch uniformity in nanoimprint lithography
First Claim
1. An imprint lithography method comprising:
- disposing a pretreatment composition on a substrate to yield a liquid pretreatment coating on the substrate, wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polymerizable component;
disposing discrete portions of an imprint resist on the pretreatment coating, wherein the imprint resist is a polymerizable composition;
forming a composite polymerizable coating on the substrate as each discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads on the liquid pretreatment coating;
after forming the composite polymerizable coating, contacting the composite polymerizable coating with an imprint lithography template defining recesses;
polymerizing the composite polymerizable coating to yield a composite polymeric layer defining a pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponding to the recesses of the imprint lithography template, wherein at least one of the pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponds to a boundary between two of the discrete portions of the imprint resist, and the pre-etch plurality of protrusions have a variation in pre-etch height of ±
10% of a pre-etch average height;
separating the imprint lithography template from the composite polymeric layer; and
etching the pre-etch plurality of protrusions to yield a post-etch plurality of protrusions, wherein the post-etch plurality of protrusions have a variation in post-etch height of ±
10% of a post-etch average height, and the pre-etch average height exceeds the post-etch average height.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A nanoimprint lithography method includes contacting a composite polymerizable coating formed from a pretreatment composition and an imprint resist with a nanoimprint lithography template defining recesses. The composite polymerizable coating is polymerized to yield a composite polymeric layer defining a pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponding to the recesses of the nanoimprint lithography template. The nanoimprint lithography template is separated from the composite polymeric layer. At least one of the pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponds to a boundary between two of the discrete portions of the imprint resist, and the pre-etch plurality of protrusions have a variation in pre-etch height of ±10% of a pre-etch average height. The pre-etch plurality of protrusions is etched to yield a post-etch plurality of protrusions having a variation in post-etch height of ±10% of a post-etch average height, and the pre-etch average height exceeds the post-etch average height.
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Citations
33 Claims
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1. An imprint lithography method comprising:
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disposing a pretreatment composition on a substrate to yield a liquid pretreatment coating on the substrate, wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polymerizable component; disposing discrete portions of an imprint resist on the pretreatment coating, wherein the imprint resist is a polymerizable composition; forming a composite polymerizable coating on the substrate as each discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads on the liquid pretreatment coating; after forming the composite polymerizable coating, contacting the composite polymerizable coating with an imprint lithography template defining recesses; polymerizing the composite polymerizable coating to yield a composite polymeric layer defining a pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponding to the recesses of the imprint lithography template, wherein at least one of the pre-etch plurality of protrusions corresponds to a boundary between two of the discrete portions of the imprint resist, and the pre-etch plurality of protrusions have a variation in pre-etch height of ±
10% of a pre-etch average height;separating the imprint lithography template from the composite polymeric layer; and etching the pre-etch plurality of protrusions to yield a post-etch plurality of protrusions, wherein the post-etch plurality of protrusions have a variation in post-etch height of ±
10% of a post-etch average height, and the pre-etch average height exceeds the post-etch average height. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. An imprint lithography method comprising:
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disposing a pretreatment composition on a substrate to yield a liquid pretreatment coating on the substrate, wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polymerizable component; disposing discrete portions of an imprint resist on the liquid pretreatment coating, wherein the imprint resist is a polymerizable composition; forming a composite polymerizable coating on the substrate as each discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads on the liquid pretreatment coating; after forming the composite polymerizable coating, contacting the composite polymerizable coating with an imprint lithography template; and polymerizing the composite polymerizable coating to yield a composite polymeric layer on the substrate, wherein the interfacial surface energy between the pretreatment composition and air exceeds the interfacial surface energy between the imprint resist and air. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. An imprint lithography method comprising:
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disposing a pretreatment composition on a substrate to yield a liquid pretreatment coating on the substrate, wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polymerizable component; disposing discrete portions of imprint resist on the liquid pretreatment coating, each discrete portion of the imprint resist covering a target area of the substrate; forming a composite polymerizable coating on the substrate as each discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads beyond its target area, wherein the composite polymerizable coating comprises a liquid mixture of the pretreatment composition and the imprint resist; after forming the composite polymerizable coating, contacting the composite polymerizable coating with an imprint lithography template; and polymerizing the composite polymerizable coating to yield a composite polymeric layer on the substrate, wherein the interfacial surface energy between the pretreatment composition and air exceeds the interfacial surface energy between at least a component of the imprint resist and air.
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23. A method for pretreating a substrate, the method comprising:
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coating the substrate with a pretreatment composition, wherein the pretreatment composition comprises a polymerizable component; disposing discrete portions of an imprint resist on the pretreatment composition; and after disposing the discrete portions of the imprint resist on the pretreatment composition, contacting the imprint resist with an imprint lithography template, wherein the imprint resist disposed in discrete portions on the pretreatment composition spreads more rapidly than the same imprint resist disposed on the same substrate in the absence of the pretreatment composition. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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26. An imprint method comprising:
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disposing a discrete portion of an imprint resist on a liquid pretreatment coating on a substrate such that the discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads on the liquid pretreatment coating to yield a spread imprint resist, wherein the liquid pretreatment coating comprises a polymerizable component and the imprint resist is a polymerizable composition; contacting the spread imprint resist with a template; and polymerizing the spread imprint resist and the pretreatment coating to yield a polymeric layer on the substrate; wherein a surface tension of the liquid pretreatment coating exceeds a surface tension of the imprint resist. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, the method comprising:
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providing a liquid pretreatment coating on a substrate, wherein the liquid pretreatment coating comprises a polymerizable component; disposing a discrete portion of an imprint resist on the liquid pretreatment coating such that the discrete portion of the imprint resist spreads on the liquid pretreatment coating to yield a spread imprint resist, wherein the imprint resist is a polymerizable composition, and a surface tension of the pretreatment coating exceeds a surface tension of the imprint resist; contacting the spread imprint resist with a template; polymerizing the spread imprint resist and the pretreatment coating to yield a polymeric layer on the substrate; separating the template from the polymeric layer; and etching the substrate via the polymeric layer. - View Dependent Claims (33)
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Specification