Nip mechanics of nano-impression lithography in roll-to-roll process machines

Abstract

Nano-Impression Lithography (NIL) has been demonstrated to produce nano features on webs that have value to society. Such demonstrations have largely been the result of NIL processes that involve the discrete stamping of a mold with nano-impressions into a thermoplastic web or a web coated with resin that is cured during the imprint process. To scale NIL to large area products which can be produced economically requires the imprinting to occur on roll-to-roll (R2R) process machines. Nip mechanics is a topic which has been explored in relation to drive nips and winding nips in R2R machines. Nip rollers will be needed to imprint webs at production speeds to ensure mold filling on an imprint roller. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate while the nip roller is required that it can also induce imperfections in the imprinted nano-features. Successful imprinting will require nip loads sufficient to fill the imprint mold and then addressing the nip mechanics which can induce shear and slip that could destroy the nano-features. The objective is to demonstrate through the study of nip mechanics that this shear and slip can be inhibited through the selection of nip materials and tension control of the web entering and exiting the nipped imprint roller.