Silylcarborane Acrylate Nanoimprint Lithography Resists

The synthesis of a novel silylcarborane acrylate monomer is reported as well as its application as an etch-resistant component for the formulation of imprint layers for UV nanoimprint lithography (NIL). By introduction of 10% by weight of the silylcarborane acrylate monomer into NIL resist formulations, the oxygen plasma etch rate of the resulting film was reduced by nearly a factor of 2. When used in NIL, the patterned resist layer had excellent oxygen plasma etch resistance, leading to effective image transfer to the underlying poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) lift-off layer. The latter allowed for the fabrication of metallic interdigitated electrode patterns via a NIL/lift-off process. This work demonstrates the robustness of silylcarborane-containing resists and paves the way for the investigation of new, high-resolution patterning methods.