Structure size dependent recovery of thin polystyrene layers in thermal imprint lithography

Thermal imprints into polymer layers, which are thin compared to the structure height of the stamp provide the advantage that minimum residual layers can be achieved. On the other hand, due to the specific properties of thermoplastic polymers, recovery, i.e. a release of stored imprint energy, may occur after separation of sample and stamp. The intensity of this recovery strongly depends on the imprint temperature. Unfortunately a reduction of recovery by means of increased imprint temperature often generates other problems like unwanted physical self-assembly of the polymer.Another parameter that affects the development of recovery is the structure size of the imprinted patterns. This contribution is about the structure size dependency of the intensity of polymer recovery. By means of lift-off imprints of different structure sizes and types are tested after the imprint at two different temperatures.