Fabrication of a silicon oxide stamp by edge lithography reinforced with silicon nitride for nanoimprint lithography

The fabrication of a stamp reinforced with silicon nitride is presented for its use in nanoimprint lithography. The fabrication process is based on edge lithography using conventional optical lithography and wet anisotropic etching of 110 silicon wafers. SiO2 nano-ridges of 20 nm in width were fabricated. A silicon rich nitride layer is deposited over the original SiO2 nano-ridges to improve the ridge strength and to achieve a positive tapered shape which is beneficial for nanoimprinting. A replica of the nano-ridges with silicon rich nitride shield is obtained by imprinting the stamp into thermoplastic nanoimprint polymer mr-I 7010E