Soft Mold NanoImprint Lithography: a Versatile Tool for Sub-Wavelength Grating Applications

Due to its independency to the substrate used, Soft mold NanoImprint Lithography (S-NIL) is a technique of great interest in particular for the fabrication of optical devices. We demonstrate a mature pathway for the fabrication of optical filters from the conception to the optical characterization. Those filters can be fabricated on large surfaces (up to 6 '' diameter wafers) with high conformity on various substrates. Quality of the transfer will be discussed throughout the process and optical performances compared to those obtained with classical techniques. In this paper we fabricated tunable spectral filters with a grating periodicity down to 260 nm and imprint surfaces up to 6 ''. Physical conformity of the gratings will be discussed in terms of long-range stitching obtained on 6 '' Si hard mold, dimensional shrinkage during thermal NanoImprint on Zeonor (R) soft mold and conformity towards patterned hard mold throughout the process.