Nanofabrication Process of the Plasmonic Metallic Nano Pixels on Quartz Substrate by n-Buthanol Nanoimprinting with Epoxy Peeling off Technique

In this study, the solvent nanoimprinting with peeling process was proposed to attain an efficient fabrication of metallic nano pixels structures on a quartz glass substrate as a plasmonic device, and feasibility of the process was experimentally verified. This process consists of 4 steps, firstly, a substrate was etched with Argon gas by the sputter coater machine. Secondly, a PET film mold was fabricated by the hot embossing process. The PET film mold with nano-groove patterns was dropped with n-Butanol and was imprinted onto the etched surface of a substrate. Then, a chemical patterned substrate was deposited with a gold thin film using the sputtering machine. Finally, the selective peeling by the adhesive tape was studied experimentally. The fundamental mechanism of selective peeling by an adhesive tape was discussed. This was attributed to the inhibition of bonding between atoms of the deposited metal and substrate by the chemical nanoimprinting. Due to the etching by Ar sputtering, the surface energy of the quartz glass substrate was increased, and it caused strong bonding between metal atoms and the substrate. Meanwhile, the surface energy of the chemically imprinted region was reduced by n-Butanol molecules transferred from the nanopatterns of a PET film mold, and the metal film in this region was easily peeled off with an adhesive tape.