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US 9,651,862 B2Granted
Drop pattern generation for imprint lithography with directionally-patterned templates
AssigneeCanon Nanotechnologies, Inc.
InventorsEdward Brian Fletcher, Gerard M. Schmid, Se-Hyuk Im, Niyaz Khusnatdinov, Yeshwanth Srinivasan, Weijun Liu, Frank Y. Xu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Imprint lithography methods that incorporate depositing droplets of polymerizable material in patterns that improve fill time performance when employing directionally-oriented imprint templates. The patterns are based on grid arrays formed of repeating sets of rows of droplets oriented along fast and slow axes, with droplets of each row offset along the slow axis relative to droplets in adjacent rows.
Claims19
An imprint lithography method for forming a patterned layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
- providing an imprint lithography template, the imprint lithography template having a patterning surface at least a portion thereof having repeating elongated features directionally oriented parallel to an axis AT of the template;
- depositing a plurality of spaced-apart droplets of polymerizable material in a pattern onto a substrate, the pattern comprising a grid array oriented along perpendicular axes As and AF and having a plurality of repeating rows of deposited droplets, each deposited droplet having a diameter DD, with each row oriented parallel to the axis As and perpendicular to the axis AF, wherein the droplets within each row are positioned a first distance dS apart from each other, and wherein each row of the plurality of rows is positioned a second distance dF apart from each adjacent row, wherein a magnitude of the second distance dF that each row is positioned apart from the adjacent row is a function of the number of rows of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other, and wherein the positions of deposited droplets in any one row are offset along the axis AS relative to the positions of deposited droplets in adjacent rows based on the number of rows of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other;
- positioning the template in superimposition with the deposited pattern of droplets such that the axis AT of the template is oriented parallel to the axis AF of the deposited pattern of droplets;
- contacting the template with the deposited polymerizable material to facilitate spreading of the polymerizable material and formation of a contiguous layer of polymerizable material conforming to the template patterning surface;
- solidifying the polymerizable material to form a patterned layer on the substrate;
- and
- separating the template from the formed patterned layer.
4 more elements
An imprint lithography method for forming a patterned layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
- providing an imprint lithography template, the imprint lithography template having a patterning surface at least a portion thereof having repeating elongated features directionally oriented parallel to an axis AT of the template;
- depositing a plurality of spaced-apart droplets of polymerizable material in a pattern onto a substrate, the pattern comprising a grid array oriented along perpendicular axes As and AF and having a plurality of repeating rows of deposited droplets, each deposited droplet having a diameter DD, with each row oriented parallel to the axis As and perpendicular to the axis AF, wherein the droplets within each row are positioned a first distance dS apart from each other, and wherein each row of the plurality of rows is positioned a second distance dF apart from each adjacent row, wherein a magnitude of the second distance dF that each row positioned apart from the adjacent row is a function of the number of rows n of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other, and wherein the positions of deposited droplets in any one row are offset along the axis AS relative to the positions of deposited droplets in adjacent rows based on the number of rows of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other, and wherein the first distance dS is less than n times the droplet diameter DD;
- positioning the template in superimposition with the deposited pattern of droplets such that the axis AT of the template is oriented parallel to the axis AF of the deposited pattern of droplets;
- contacting the template with the deposited polymerizable material to facilitate spreading of the polymerizable material and formation of a contiguous layer of polymerizable material conforming to the template patterning surface;
- solidifying the polymerizable material to form a patterned layer on the substrate;
- and
- separating the template from the formed patterned layer.
4 more elements
An imprint lithography method for forming a patterned layer on a substrate, the method comprising:
- providing an imprint lithography template, the imprint lithography template having a patterning surface at least a portion thereof having gratings directionally oriented parallel to an axis AT of the template;
- providing a fluid dispenser for depositing the pattern of droplets of polymerizable material onto the substrate, the fluid dispenser further having a minimum grid pitch gF by gS corresponding to perpendicular axes AF and AS, respectively, and a drop placement error of εS relative to axis As,
- depositing via the fluid dispenser a plurality of spaced-apart droplets of polymerizable material in a pattern onto a substrate, the pattern comprising a grid array oriented along the perpendicular axes AS and AF and having a plurality of repeating rows of deposited droplets, each deposited droplet having a diameter DD, with each row oriented parallel to axis the As and perpendicular to the axis AF, wherein the droplets within each row are positioned a first distance dS apart from each other, and wherein each row of the plurality of rows is positioned a second distance dF apart from each adjacent row, wherein a magnitude of the second distance dF that each row is positioned apart from the adjacent row is a function of the number of rows n of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other, wherein the positions of deposited droplets in any one row are offset along the axis AS relative to the positions of deposited droplets in adjacent rows based on the number of rows of deposited droplets of the grid array and the first distance ds that the droplets in each row are positioned apart from each other, and wherein the first distance dS is less than n times the droplet diameter DD, and further wherein the first distance dS is based on the diameter DD, the grid pitch gS, and the number of rows n;
- positioning the template in superimposition with the deposited pattern of droplets such that the axis AT of the template is oriented parallel to the axis AF of the deposited pattern of droplets;
- contacting the template with the deposited polymerizable material to facilitate spreading of the polymerizable material and formation of a contiguous layer of polymerizable material conforming to the template patterning surface;
- solidifying the polymerizable material to form a patterned layer on the substrate;
- and
- separating the template from the formed patterned layer.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.