Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

Molecular Imprints, Inc.

Christopher Ellis Jones

Niyaz Khusnatdinov

Ian Matthew McMackin

Dwayne L LaBrake

Seth J Bamesberger

Se-Hyuk Im

Ozkan Ozturk

Joseph G Perez

Pankaj B Lad

Philip D Schumaker

Douglas J Resnick

Stephen C Johnson

James W Irving

Craig William Cone

Logan L Simpson

Wei Zhang

Steven Wayne Burns

Jason Battin

A superstrate for planarizing a substrate. The superstrate includes a body having a first side having a contact surface and a second side having a central portion and a peripheral portion surrounding the central portion. The peripheral portion includes a recessed region.

Planarization apparatus, planarization process, and method of manufacturing an article

One embodiment is a method that includes generating drop pattern information. The method may comprise receiving pattern information. The pattern information may include one or both of: a substrate pattern of a representative substrate; and a template pattern of a representative template. The method may further comprise receiving offset information about a particular substrate that is representative of a measured state of the particular substrate relative to a reference state. The drop pattern information may represent a plurality of positions to place droplets of formable material on the particular substrate. The method may further comprise outputting the drop pattern information that is representative of the formable material that fills a volume between the template and the particular substrate that is in the measured state and the formable material does not spread into a border region at an edge of the particular substrate.

Methods of generating drop patterns, systems for shaping films with the drop pattern, and methods of manufacturing an article with the drop pattern

Systems and processes for controlling an imprinting process that dispenses a plurality of droplets onto a substrate. Droplet information representative of droplets is acquired. A set that includes droplet parameters of the droplets based on the droplet information may be estimated. Each of the droplet parameters is representative of particular droplets. Prior to a template being brought into contact with the droplets, either any of the set is outside ranges, or all of the set are inside ranges, may be determined. In a first case when any of the set are outside the ranges, then the imprinting process may be aborted prior to the template being brought into contact with the droplets. In a second case when all of the set are inside the ranges, then the imprinting process may be performed with the template.

System and method of assessing surface quality by optically analyzing dispensed drops

A superstrate can include a body having a surface; a buffer layer overlying the surface; and a protective layer overlying the buffer layer, wherein the protective layer has a surface roughness that is equal to or less than a surface roughness of the surface of the body. The protective layer can include a material that can be selectively removed with respect to the buffer layer, and the buffer layer can include a material that can be selectively removed with respect to the body of the superstrate. The superstrate can be used for more planarization or other processing sequences before the body needs to be replaced, as any defects that may form extend into the protective layer or buffer layer and not reach the body. The layers can be removed and replaced by corresponding new layers without significantly adversely affecting the body.

Superstrate and a method of using the same

In nano-imprint lithography it is important to detect thickness non-uniformity of a residual layer formed on a substrate. Such non-uniformity is compensated such that a uniform residual layer may be formed. Compensation is performed by calculating a corrected fluid drop pattern.

Residual layer thickness measurement and correction

Devices positioned between an energy source and an imprint lithography template may block exposure of energy to portions of polymerizable material dispensed on a substrate. Portions of the polymerizable material that are blocked from the energy may remain fluid, while the remaining polymerizable material is solidified.

Extrusion reduction in imprint lithography

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Christopher Ellis Jones