Fabrication and application of novel hydrophilic nanomold

Abstract

We fabricated novel hydrophilic micro/nanostructures on Si substrates using a patented hydrophilic hybrid polymer with excellent processability by soft lithography methods such as the imprinting lithographic technique and microtransfer molding (mu TM). Nanoscaled hydrophilic polymer patterns were fabricated with economic nanoscale compact disc (CD), DVD, and blue ray disc (BD) masters using imprint lithography. Novel hydrophilic micro/nanostructures were fabricated on Si substrates using the hydrophilic hybrid polymer with excellent processability by soft lithography methods, such as the imprinting lithographic technique and mu TM even on the sub-micron level. Also, hydrophilic material was fabricated from the BD master by means of a nanoscale mold. The PDMS mold was not possible to reproduce due to high viscosity, but the hydrophilic material pattern was reproduced accurately because of its low viscosity and low surface tension. So we successfully could fabricate micro/nanoinorganic replica structures using novel hydrophilic molds. Moreover, three-dimensional microstructures with hydrophilic properties are of interest for their possible use in areas such as optics, for example photonic band-gap structures, and tissue engineering. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.