Nanoimprint Lithography

Nanoimprint lithography featuring line widths of only 16 nm and a line spacing of 14 nm has been achieved by scientists at Princeton University. Sustaining this delicate work of fine patterning and fabrication, furthermore, was sustained across the face of 4-inch wafer.

One way to increase the density of storable data or computing power of microchips is of course to shrink the circuitry, but new difficulties arise when the size or spacing of lines gets too small. Getting below a 35-nm pitch, for example, is difficult when using an electron beam to do the lithography.

Therefore the Princeton researchers used "photocurable nanoimprint lithography" (P-NIL), a process in which a mold is pressed into a resist medium which is then cured with ultraviolet rays. After this the resist is etched away, leaving behind thin 5-nm-wide polymer walls. Gold contacts 5 nm apart can also be fabricated. (Austin et al., Applied Physics Letters, 28 June 2004)