Hierarchically Porous, Laser-Pyrolyzed Carbon Electrode from Black Photoresist for On-Chip Microsupercapacitors.

We report a laser-pyrolyzed carbon (LPC) electrode prepared from a black photoresist for an on-chip microsupercapacitor (MSC). An interdigitated LPC electrode was fabricated by direct laser writing using a high-power carbon dioxide (CO2) laser to simultaneously carbonize and pattern a spin-coated black SU-8 film. Due to the high absorption of carbon blacks in black SU-8, the laser-irradiated SU-8 surface was directly exfoliated and carbonized by a fast photo-thermal reaction. Facile laser pyrolysis of black SU-8 provides a hierarchically macroporous, graphitic carbon structure with fewer defects (ID/IG = 0.19). The experimental conditions of CO2 direct laser writing were optimized to fabricate high-quality LPCs for MSC electrodes with low sheet resistance and good porosity. A typical MSC based on an LPC electrode showed a large areal capacitance of 1.26 mF cm-2 at a scan rate of 5 mV/s, outperforming most MSCs based on thermally pyrolyzed carbon. In addition, the results revealed that the high-resolution electrode pattern in the same footprint as that of the LPC-MSCs significantly affected the rate performance of the MSCs. Consequently, the proposed laser pyrolysis technique using black SU-8 provided simple and facile fabrication of porous, graphitic carbon electrodes for high-performance on-chip MSCs without high-temperature thermal pyrolysis.

System for Fabrication of Large-Area Roll Molds by Step-and-Repeat Liquid Transfer Imprint Lithography.

The effective production of nanopatterned films generally requires a nanopatterned roll mold with a large area. We report on a novel system to fabricate large-area roll molds by recombination of smaller patterned areas in a step-and-repeat imprint lithography process. The process is accomplished in a method similar to liquid transfer imprint lithography (LTIL). The stamp roll with a smaller area takes up the liquid resist by splitting from a donor substrate or a donor roll. The resist is then transferred from a stamp roll to an acceptor roll and stitched together in a longitudinal and, if necessary, in a circumferential direction. During transfer, the nanostructured resist is UV-exposed and crosslinked directly on the acceptor roll. The acceptor roll with the stitched and recombined stamp patterns is ready to be used as a large-area roll mold for roll-based imprinting. A system for this purpose was designed, and its operation was demonstrated taking the example of an acceptor roll of 1 m length and 250 mm diameter, which was covered by 56 patterned areas. Such a system represents an elegant and efficient tool to recombine small patterned areas directly on a large roll mold and opens the way for large-area roll-based processing.

Nanoimprint lithography with a focused laser beam for the fabrication of nanopatterned microchannel molds.

We present a process based on nanoimprint lithography for the fabrication of a microchannel mold having nanopatterns formed at the bottoms of its microchannels. A focused laser beam selectively cures the resist in the micrometer scale during nanoimprint lithography. Nanopatterns within the microchannels may be used to control microfluidic behavior.

X Y parallel compliant stage with compact configuration.

This paper presents a piezo-driven compliant stage for nano positioning with two degree-of-freedom parallel linear motions. Nano positioning is one of the most important factors in completion of nanotechnologies. It can be accomplished by flexure-based compliant stages driven by piezo-actuators. For compact configuration, the compliant stage is stacked by two-layered compliant mechanisms. The upper layer contains a motion guide mechanism, and the lower layer two displacement amplification mechanisms. The motion guide mechanism consists of four prismatic-prismatic parallel compliant joint chains for two translational motion guides. The displacement amplification mechanism is adopted by a flexure-based flextensional amplification mechanism driven by a stack-type piezo actuator. Due to the parallel compliant joint chains, the stage has the same dynamics in the x and y axes. In this study, through design and analysis, the mechanisms were machined via wire electro-discharge machining and are were then integrated with two stack-type piezoelectric elements for actuation, and two capacitive sensors for ultra-precision displacement measurement. Finally, experiments were carried out to demonstrate the performance of the compliant stage.

Pattern uniformity in large-area ultraviolet nano-imprinting by a cylindrically inflated flexible mold under low pressure.

This paper shows a novel nano-imprint method with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) replica mold that was bonded on a cylindrically inflated polycarbonate (PC) film via a low air pressure. The PDMS mold, which was deformed in terms of its cylindrical shape, made a line contact with a substrate from the center region and the contact region, then expanded gradually to the outside of the substrate when the contact force increased. This contact procedure squeezed the resin that was dropped on the substrate from the center to the outside, which prevented the trapping of air bubbles while the cavities were filled with the patterns on the PDMS mold. The main characteristic of the proposed process was that the nano-imprint can be realized under a low pressure, compared to conventional processes. We will show the system that was implemented under the proposed process concept and the patterns that were transferred in an ultraviolet curable resin under pressure conditions of less than 5 kPa.

Replication of a thin polydimethylsiloxane stamp and its application to dual-nanoimprint lithography for 3D hybrid nano/micropatterns.

This paper presents the fabrication of a thin and flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) stamp with a thickness of a few tens of um and its application to nanoimprint lithography (NIL). The PDMS material generally has a low elastic modulus and high adhesive characteristics. Therefore, after being treated, the thin PDMS stamp is easily deformed and torn, adhering to itself and other materials. This paper introduces the use of a metal ring around the flange of a thin PDMS stamp to assist with the handling of this material. A PDMS stamp with a motheye pattern in nanometer scale was inserted between a substrate and a microstamp with concave patterns in micrometer scale. Subsequently, three-dimensional (3D) hybrid nano/micropatterns were fabricated by pressing these two stamps and curing the resist. The fabricated hybrid patterns were measured and verified in both the microscale and nanoscale. The process, termed "dual NIL," can be applied to the fabrication of optical components or bio-sensors that require repetitive nanopatterns on micropatterns.