Contact Printing

Contact printing provides a new, and alternative approach to lithography, addresses issures in the science of manufacturing at scales below 200 nm, and allows completely different approaches to fabrication -- because pattern transfer is direct, novel strategies of assembling devices are accessible. Contact printing does not suffer from a diffraction limit, is inherently prallel, and uses conformal contact to affect material properties of the substrate. Stamps are fabricated by casting poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) on a master with a negative of the desired pattern (produced using e-beam or STM lithographies for example). The PDMS stamp is then peeled away from the master after curing and exposed to the "ink" transferred by transient contact between the stamp and the substrate. The elastomeric nature of the PDMS allows molecular-scale contact even on rough surfaces.

Figure: Procedurce for fabrication of the patterned elastomeric stamp and the preparation of the patterned surface. The PDMS stamp is polymerized on the master, peeled away, inked by exposure to an alkanethiol solution, and brought into conformal contact with the surface. The image below the scheme has been taken by SEM and shows the contrast between the printed SAM and the untreated surface.

Additional Information

Papers and Images

Lithography Beyond Light: Microcontact Printing with Monolayer Resists H.A. Biebuyck, N.B. Larsen, E. Delamarche and B. Michel, IBM J. Res. Develop. 41, 159-170 (1997).
Stability of Molded Polydimethylsiloxane Microstructures, E. Delamarche, H. Schmid, B. Michel, and H.A. Biebuyck, Adv. Mater. 9, 741-746 (1997).
Transport Mechanisms of Alkanethiols during Microcontact Printing on Gold, E. Delamarche, H. Schmid, A. Bietsch, N.B. Larsen, H. Rothuizen, B. Michel, and H.A. Biebuyck, J. Phys. Chem. B. 102, 3324-3334 (1998).
Contact Inking Stamps for Microcontact Printing of Alkanethiols on Gold, L. Libioulle, A. Bietsch, H. Schmid, B. Michel, and E. Delamarche, Langmuir 15, 300-304 (1999).
Light Coupling Masks for Lensless, Sub-Wavelength Optical Lithography, H. Schmid, H.A. Biebuyck, and B. Michel, Appl. Phys. Lett. 72, 2379-2381 (1998).

Bruno Michel <bmi@zurich.ibm.com>

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Last modified: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 15:12