soft lithography – TechConnect Briefs

The Patterning of Sub-500 nm Inorganic Structures for Hybrid Photovoltaics

Hampton M.J., Williams S.S., Retterer S.T., Templeton J.L., Samulski E.T., DeSimone J.M., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, US

The Pattern Replication In Non-wetting Templates (PRINT) technique has been extended to patterning of isolated features as well as embossed films of sub-500 nm “hard” inorganic oxides and nanocrystalline semiconductors including TiO2, SnO2, ZnO, ITO, [...]

Simulation and Fabrication of Large Area 3D Nanostructures

Bogart K.H.A., El-kady I., Grubbs R.K., Rahimian K., Sanchez A.M., Ellis A.R., Wiwi M., McCormick F.B., J.-L. Shir D., Rogers J.A., Sandia National Laboratories, US

Three-dimensional (3D) nano-structures are vital for emerging technologies such as photonics, sensors, fuel cells, catalyst supports, and data storage. The Proximity-field nanoPatterning1 method generates complex 3D nanostructures using a single exposure and development cycle. Exposure [...]

Simulation and Fabrication of Large Area 3D Nanostructures

Bogart K.H.A., El-kady I., Grubbs R.K., Rahimian K., Sanchez A.M., Ellis A.R., Wiwi M., McCormick F.B., J.-L. Shir D., Rogers J.A., Sandia National Laboratories, US

Three-dimensional (3D) nano-structures are vital for emerging technologies such as photonics, sensors, fuel cells, catalyst supports, and data storage. The Proximity-field nanoPatterning1 method generates complex 3D nanostructures using a single exposure and development cycle. Exposure [...]

Functional Polymers for Advanced Nanotechnology

Choi K.M., Bell Labs, Lucent Technologies, US

Nanotechnology has been seeking precision on organic electronics with enhanced device performances at low cost. Recently, there are growing interests in the functional integration generated using functional polymers to fabricate novel devices, which satisfy a [...]

Microfabrication of 3D Structures Using Novel Thermoplastic Elastomers

Sudarsan A.P., Wang J., Ugaz V.M., Texas A&M University, US

We demonstrate the use of novel thermoplastic elastomers synthesized by dissolving readily available polystyrene–(polyethylene/ polybutylene)–polystyrene (SBS/SEBS) triblock copolymers (e.g., Kraton™ G series) in hydrocarbon oils for which the ethylene/butylene midblocks are selectively miscible. The insoluble [...]

Soft and Probe Lithography without Ink Transfer

Huskens J., Li X., Péter M., Reinhoudt D.N., University of Twente, MESA+ Research Institute, NL

Microcontact printing (mCP) and dip-pen nanolithography (DPN) are versatile techniques for the creation of patterned surfaces. They commonly employ the transfer of an ink (e.g. a thiol) onto a surface (e.g. a gold-coated substrate) thus [...]

Capillary Passive Valve in Microfluidic System

Cho H., Kim H-Y, Kim T.S., Kang J.Y., Kim H-Y, Kim T.S., Microsystem Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, KR

This work reports the theoretical and experimental investigations of capillary bust valves to regulate liquid flow in microchannels. The theoretical analysis uses the Young-Laplace equation and geometrical considerations to predict the pressure at the edge [...]