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Nano Courses

A repository of courses and units are available for instructors who want to incorporate NSE into their existing course or desire to create a new course. Each Nanocourse or unit contains an introduction, main concepts, notes, lectures and accompanying homework assignments or in-class activities. All materials on the NanoEd Resource Portal are peer-managed and covered by a creative-commons attribution, non-commercial share-alike type licensing.

 
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What Can Electrons Do? - Electron Microscopy
J.G. Zheng and
Prof. V.P. Dravid
Northwestern University, IL, USA


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Unconventional Patterning at the Nanoscale    »» Main Menu


SOFT LITHOGRAPHY

» Molding - Replica Molding (RM)
» Molding - Micromolding in Capillaries (MIMIC)  
» Molding - Solvent-Assisted Micromolding (SAMIM)  


Molding - Replica Molding (RM)

Replica molding and related molding techniques are practical methods for fabricating structures as small as 30 nm in organic polymers with accuracy in vertical dimension of 5 nm.

 

MATERIALS:

  • Patterned PDMS mold
  • Liquid Polyurethane prepolymer
  • Glass Slides
  • UV lamp
  • Sharp scalpel

PROCEDURE: (Click on pictures to view the videos)

*You will need QuickTime Player installed on your computer to view the videos.
  Download Player: For Mac | For PC

Replica

Clean the glass slide with soap and water and then rinse with ethanol. Dry under a stream of nitrogen.

 
Replica2

Using a fresh blade on your scalpel, cut out a stamp that is patterned with circles or other shapes.

 
Replica3

Place several drops of the liquid polyurethane prepolymer onto a glass slide (so that it creates a puddle about the size of your stamp)

 
Replica4

Gently place the patterned side of the stamp into contact with the liquid polymer.

 
Replica5

Place your sample under a UV lamp for five minutes.

 
Replica6

Remove the stamp and place facedown on a clean glass slide. Look at your sample underneath an AFM.

 

QUESTIONS:

  1. Characterize your RM, MIMIC and SAMIM samples using the AFM and compare it to your PDMS mold. How well did the pattern transfer?
  2. Compare and contrast the three molding techniques—RM, MIMIC, and SAMIM. What are their advantages and disadvantages?
  3. Which technique produced the best replication of the CD pattern from the PDMS stamp?
  4. In molding techniques, how does the pattern compare with the pattern of the stamp?
  5. How could you obtain the exact pattern as the one on the stamp?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Authors:
Prof. Teri W. Odom,
Dr. M. Viswanathan and Y. Babayan

Institution:
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL USA

Level:
College and above

In the classroom:
This Course is a video lab manual for hands on fabrication and characterization of materials at the nanoscale. Materials requirements range from simple chemicals, benchtop tools and CDs to necessary access to advanced characterization equipment such as an Scanning Tunneling Microscope.>