A review of the scalable nano-manufacturing technology for flexible devices

doi:10.1007/s11465-017-0416-3

Front. Mech. Eng.

2017, Vol. 12

Issue (1) : 99-109 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11465-017-0416-3

REVIEW ARTICLE

A review of the scalable nano-manufacturing technology for flexible devices

Wenbin HUANG¹,Xingtao YU²,Yanhua LIU¹,Wen QIAO¹(

),Linsen CHEN¹

¹. College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China; Key Lab of Advanced Optical Manufacturing Technologies of Jiangsu Province & Key Lab of Modern Optical Technologies of Education Ministry of China, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
². College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China

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Abstract

Recent advances in electronic and photonic devices, such as artificial skin, wearable systems, organic and inorganic light-emitting diodes, have gained considerable commercial and scientific interest in the academe and in industries. However, low-cost and high-throughput nano-manufacturing is difficult to realize with the use of traditional photolithographic processes. In this review, we summarize the status and the limitations of current nano-patterning techniques for scalable and flexible functional devices in terms of working principle, resolution, and processing speed. Finally, several remaining unsolved problems in nano-manufacturing are discussed, and future research directions are highlighted.

Keywords flexible nano-manufacturing flexible devices nanofabrication scalability

Corresponding Author(s): Wen QIAO

Just Accepted Date: 14 December 2016 Online First Date: 09 January 2017 Issue Date: 21 March 2017

Cite this article:

Wenbin HUANG,Xingtao YU,Yanhua LIU, et al. A review of the scalable nano-manufacturing technology for flexible devices[J]. Front. Mech. Eng., 2017, 12(1): 99-109.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/10.1007/s11465-017-0416-3
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fme/EN/Y2017/V12/I1/99

Nano-manufacturing technologies	Material compatibility	Resolution	Throughput	Equipment cost
Laser direct writing (LDW) [9]	Photoresist or deposition with precursor or ablation of absorbent materials	Low $λ$	High 0.2 m²/s	Medium Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
Dot-matrix holography [19–21]	Photoresist	Medium $λ 4$	Medium 0.002 m²/s	Medium Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
Interference lithography (IL) [6,22,23]	Photoresist or deposition with precursor or direct ablation of absorbent materials	Medium $λ 4$	Low Minutes/wafer (determined by the interference area)	Medium Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
Scanning probe lithography (SPN) [24]	Material modification, removal and deposition	5 nm	Low 10^-4 cm²/h	Medium Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars
Directed self-assembly (DSA) [7,25–29]	Block copolymers	High 11 nm	Low Small areas (cm²) in hours in parallel	Extremely low No sophisticated equipment is required
Nano-imprinting Lithography [30–35]	Substrates with suitable surface energy	Depending on the mold	Extremely high 1 m²/s	Medium Tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars

Tab.1 Summary of nano-manufacturing technologies

Fig.1 (a) LDW system based on spot writing; (b) LDW system based on (spatial light modulator) SLM; (c) micro-patterns developed by a homemade LDW system for (c) hexagonal pattern for transparency conductive film, (d) one-dimensional grating, (e) micro-lens array, and (f) pillars

Fig.2 (a) The Lloyd’s mirror configuration of IL and the two-beam configuration of IL; SEM images of periodic patterns fabricated by IL: (b) One-dimensional (1D) gratings reprinted from Ref. [46] with permission from Optical Society of America; square and hexagonal lattice patterns fabricated by rotating the sample (c) 90º and (d) 60º between exposures, respectively reprinted from Ref. [47] with permission from Optical Society of America

Fig.3 Schematic illustrations of (a) STML and (b) AFML; (c) SEM micrograph of the high-density L shapes by thermal AFML reprinted from Ref. [52] with permission from American Chemical Society

Fig.4 (a) Graphoepitaxy and (b) Epitaxial self-assembly reprinted from Ref. [56] with permission from American Chemical Society; (c) PS-b-PMMA forming patterns with a width of 30 nm by graphoepitaxy reprinted from Ref. [57] with permission from American Chemical Society; (d) density multiplied pattern by epitaxial self-assembly with a pitch of 27 nm reprinted from Ref. [29] with permission from American Chemical Society

Fig.5 Body-force-driven nano-imprinting. (a) The schematic principle of thermal imprinting and UV imprinting; (b) example of a typical UV roller NIL setup; (c) SEM image of the R2R patterned grating structure reprinted from Ref. [34] with permission from American Chemical Society

Fig.6 Electrostatic-force-assisted nano-imprinting (EFAN). (a) Schematics of the EFAN principle; (b) the observations of the EFAN process at typical states; (c) SEM images of the nanopatterns by EFAN reprinted from Ref. [69] with permission from American Chemical Society

Fig.7 Schematics of nano-imprinting variations based on electrically surface force. (a) Electrocapillary-force driven nano-imprinting; (b) electrowetting-assisted transfer micromolding; (c) Maxwell tension-induced microstructuring based on pre-patterned polymer reprinted from Ref. [73] with permission from American Chemical Society

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