Molecular Imprints, Inc.

Canon Kabushiki Kaisha

The University of Texas System

Ecron D Thompson

Byung-Jin Choi

Frank Y Xu

Gerard M Schmid

Michael Nevin Miller

Mario Johannes Meissl

Niyaz Khusnatdinov

Pawan Kumar Nimmakayala

Xiaoming Lu

Kosta S Selinidis

Sidlgata V Sreenivasan

Anshuman Cherala

Michael P C Watts

Ian Matthew McMackin

James W Irving

Logan L Simpson

Craig William Cone

Wei Zhang

Andrew Robert Eckert

Nicholas E Stacey

A fabrication method comprises selecting an initial drop pattern defining a position of drops of a formable material, the initial drop pattern comprising a grid pattern of drops, designating the drops of the grid pattern to be dispensed by a first series of nozzles of a dispenser based on a spacing between drops in the Y-dimension; generating a modified drop pattern by shifting the grid pattern in a first direction along the Y-dimension, wherein a shift distance is selected such that the drops of the shifted grid pattern are designated to be dispensed from a second series of nozzles of the dispenser; dispensing the plurality of drops according to the modified drop pattern onto a substrate; during the dispensing of the drops, shifting a position of the stage or dispenser along the Y-dimension opposite to the first direction by an amount equal to the shift distance.

Residual layer thickness compensation in nano-fabrication by modified drop pattern

Systems and methods for improving robust layer separation during the separation process of an imprint lithography process are described. Included are methods of matching strains between a substrate to be imprinted and the template, varying or modifying the forces applied to the template and/or the substrate during separation, or varying or modifying the kinetics of the separation process.

Strain and kinetics control during separation phase of imprint process

An imprint lithography template including an alignment mark including at least two columns or at least two rows of features spaced apart from one another, and a dummy-fill region, wherein the alignment mark is spaced apart from the dummy-fill region, and wherein a closest distance between the at least two columns or the at least two rows is less than a closest distance between any portion of the at least two columns or the at least two rows and the dummy-fill region. In an embodiment, the at least two columns or the at least two rows are spaced apart by at least 0.5 microns. In a further embodiment, the closest distance between the at least two columns or the at least two rows and the dummy-fill region is at least 2 microns.

Imprint lithography template, system, and method of imprinting

Imprint lithography substrates may include alignment marks formed of high contrast material. Exemplary methods for forming alignment marks having high contrast material are described.

Template having alignment marks formed of contrast material

The present invention is directed towards a method for determining deformation parameters that a patterned device would undergo to minimize dimensional variations between a recorded pattern thereon and a reference pattern, the method including, inter alia, comparing spatial variation between features of the recorded pattern with respect to corresponding features of the reference pattern; and determining deformation forces to apply to the patterned device to attenuate the dimensional variations, with the forces having predetermined constraints, wherein a summation of a magnitude of the forces is substantially zero and a summation of moment of the forces is substantially zero.

Method for obtaining force combinations for template deformation using nullspace and methods optimization techniques

One embodiment of the present invention is a method for generating patterned features on a substrate that includes: (a) forming a first layer on at least a portion of a surface of the substrate, the first layer comprising at least one layer of a first material, which one layer abuts the surface of the substrate; (b) forming a second layer of a second material on at least a portion of the first layer, which second layer is imprinted with the patterned features; (c) removing at least portions of the second layer to extend the patterned features to the first layer; and (d) removing at least portions of the first layer to extend the patterned features to the substrate; wherein the first layer and the second layer may be exposed to an etching process that undercuts the patterned features, and the first material may be lifted-off.

Methods for fabricating patterned features utilizing imprint lithography

Growing community of inventors

Round Rock, TX, United States of America

Ecron D Thompson