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Imprinting micro- and nanostructures on non-planar surfaces has gained prominence in various fields such as optoelectronics, photonics and biomedical implants. It has been implemented for applications such as optical sensor arrays and optical fibers. Nanoimprint lithography (NIL) is a low cost, high resolution nanofabrication process. In this work, soft UV-NIL process is used in which a flexible stamp is used which makes it ideal for imprinting on curved surfaces such as plano-convex lens. However, the substrate to stamp positioning for successful transfer of patterns is crucial and needs to be addressed. The Nanopositioning and Nanomeasuring machine (NPMM), developed in the Collaborative Research Center (of the German Research Foundation) of TU Ilmenau, provides a unique solution to the challenges of positioning and alignment. Therefore, a UV-LED assisted small scale NIL-setup was designed, developed and integrated into the NPMM and it was further realized for carrying out fabrication of micro- and nanostructures on silicon chips and planoconvex lenses. In addition to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization, the structures were further characterized using a focus sensor. The utilized focus sensor is an optical sensor developed at the Institute for Process Measurement and Sensor Technology of TU Ilmenau. It was observed that the imprinted structures were of considerably good fidelity. Thus, a distinctive integrated imprinting process for flat and non-flat surfaces was developed and implemented. |
