Direct hot embossing of microelements by means of photostructurable polyimide

Meriem Akin; Maher Rezem; Maik Rahlves; Kevin Cromwell; Bernhard Roth; Eduard Reithmeier; Marc C. Wurz; Lutz Rissing; Hans Juergen Maier

doi:10.1117/1.JMM.15.3.034506

23 August 2016 Direct hot embossing of microelements by means of photostructurable polyimide

Meriem Akin, Maher Rezem, Maik Rahlves, Kevin Cromwell, Bernhard Roth, Eduard Reithmeier, Marc C. Wurz, Lutz Rissing, Hans Juergen Maier

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS, Vol. 15, Issue 3, 034506 (August 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.15.3.034506

Abstract

While automatic hot embossing systems are available for large- and small-scale productions of polymeric devices, one of the process challenges remains to be the manufacturing of precise, durable, and yet inexpensive hot embossing stamps. The use of metallic stamps manufactured by electroplating a photoresist pattern or by precision milling and their replication into silicone molds with UV-lithography, electroplating, and molding techniques is state of the art. Yet, there have been few, if any, thriving attempts to directly emboss polymers by means of bare photoresists, and in particular polyimide-based photoresists, without transferring the photoresist patterns into a different stamp material. We conduct a proof-of-concept by developing hot embossing stamps based on photosensitive polyimide. We focus primarily on the reliability of the aforementioned stamps throughout the hot embossing cycle and the fidelity of pattern transfer onto polymeric films for different microstructural patterns.

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Meriem Akin, Maher Rezem, Maik Rahlves, Kevin Cromwell, Bernhard Roth, Eduard Reithmeier, Marc C. Wurz, Lutz Rissing, and Hans Juergen Maier "Direct hot embossing of microelements by means of photostructurable polyimide," Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS, and MOEMS 15(3), 034506 (23 August 2016). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JMM.15.3.034506

Published: 23 August 2016

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