Fabrication of a polymer high-aspect-ratio pillar array using UV imprinting

Abstract

This paper presents UV imprinting methods for fabricating a high-aspect-ratio pillar array. A polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold was selected as the UV imprinting mold. The pillar pattern was formed on a 50 × 50 mm2 area on a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film without remarkable deformation. The aspect ratios of the pillar and space were about four and ten, respectively. The mold was placed into contact with a UV-curable resin under a reduced pressure, and the resin was cured by UV light irradiation after exposure to atmospheric pressure. The PDMS mold showed good mold releasability and high flexibility. By moderately pressing the mold before UV-curing, the thickness of the residual layer of the imprinted resin was reduced and the pattern was precisely imprinted. Both batch pressing and roll pressing are available. © 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.