Fast cure kinetics of a UV-curable resin for UV nano-imprint lithography: Phenomenological model determination based on differential photocalorimetry results

The fast cure kinetics of an ultraviolet (UV) light-curable resin for UV nano-imprint lithography (UV-NIL) was measured using a differential photocalorimeter (DPC). A simple phenomenological model was formulated to describe the curing behaviors of the UV-curable resin, i.e., the initial fast reaction rate at a small degree of cure and the autocatalytic reaction rate at a larger degree of cure. Kinetic model parameters were best fitted to the measured cure rate by using an error minimization technique. The practical applicability of the phenomenological model developed herein was demonstrated by a good agreement between the measured and modeled curing behaviors of the UV-curable resin. The effect of cure conditions on the estimated kinetic model parameters was also investigated.