Characterization of vinyl ether UV-cure nanoimprint resist

UV-curable resist formulations for nanoimprint must satisfy many requirements for viscosity, volatility, curing rate, cohesion of the cured material and release from the template in addition to being successfully imprintable. In this paper we describe studies of several vinyl ether resist systems. Although all resist formulations have low viscosity, low volatility and fast curing rate, significant variations in mechanical, fracture energy properties, fracture behaviors and cured film roughness with resist compositions are found. The results show the addition of reactive diluent to resist can lead to low fracture energy and low cured film roughness, consistent with significant control of the cured resist plasticity. © 2009 SPIE.