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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Nanomoulding of Functional Materials, a Versatile Complementary Pattern Replication Method to Nanoimprinting
Published on: January 23, 2013
Formation of regular nanoscale undulations on a thin polymer film imprinted by a soft mold
Kahp Y Suh1, Soon Min Seo, Pil J Yoo
1School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-742, Korea. sky4u@snu.ac.kr
Abstract:
We observed the formation of regular nanoscale undulations on a polystyrene film when imprinted by a soft poly(dimethylsiloxane) mold above the polymer's glass transition temperature. The shape of the wave was reminiscent of a buckling wave frequently observed for a metal film supported on an elastomeric substrate. We derived a simple theoretical model based on an anisotropic buckling of the polymer film rigidly bound to a substrate, which agrees well with the experiment.

