Replication of nanoperiodic surface structures

Abstract

A replication technique is employed to reproduce substrates having periodic nanometer scale structures formed on a surface thereof. In the technique, a thin film of cellulose acetate is placed on top of a template substrate having the desired surface to be replicated. The cellulose acetate is softened, thereby taking on the configuration of the template surface. The film is peeled off, yielding a negative replica of the template surface on the underside of the film. A thin layer of suitable material, such as gold, platinum, iron or carbon, is then deposited on the underside of the film, thus resulting in formation of a replica substrate having the same periodic nanostructure characteristics as the original template.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.