Temperature dependence of anti-adhesion between a stamper with sub-micron patterns and the polymer in nano-moulding processes

With increasing demand for micro/nano-polymeric components, micro-/nano-moulding using a nano-stamper has received much attention. When the features of the patterns on the stamper become smaller, the moulding temperature needs to be increased for improving the ability of the stamper to replicate quality polymeric components using nano-moulding. However, if the temperature is too high, the adhesion between the stamper and the polymer may deteriorate the surface quality of the moulded part, excessively wearing down the stamper surface. In this study, an experimental method is presented to analyse the temperature dependence of the anti-adhesion property between a stamper with sub-micron patterns and the polymer. For the analysis, the contact angle between the stamper and the polymer was measured at the temperature of the actual nano-moulding process, in which the stamper is heated above the glass transition temperature of the polymer. The effects of the moulding temperature and the contact angle on the surface quality and the replication quality of the moulded substrates were analysed experimentally.