Fabrication of stamps for microcontact printing by injection molding

Microcontact printing has been shown to be a viable lithographic technique for the fabrication of a variety of microelectronic components, including source/drain and gate electrodes for organic field effect transistors. Future manufacturing efforts may require a means of mass producing stamps for this process. In the present work, stamps for microcontact printing were rapidly produced by injection molding a commercial polyurethane resin, using a silicon master as the mold insert. The performance of these stamps was evaluated by microcontact printing gold coated silicon surfaces with a fluorinated alkanethiol. Etching of the stamped surface protected by the patterned alkanethiol revealed excellent replication of the submicron linear features of the micromold. The use of injection molding as a standard method for the production of stamps for microcontact printing is proposed and may have advantages for future nanotechnology applications that require mass production of stamps. Because a wide range of polymers may be injection molded, this method may make possible the fabrication of stamps with improved mechanical and chemical properties compared to polydimethylsiloxane based stamps.