Wafer-scale near-perfect ordered porous alumina on substrates by step and flash imprint lithography

Nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) has been widely used for the development of various functional nanostructures. So far, highly ordered AAO on substrates could only be prepared using a nanoindentation method via hard stamping and lithographic techniques that are not scalable to a wafer-scale. Here we report on a step and flash imprint lithography (SFIL)-based method to fabricate a near-perfect ordered AAO with square and hexagonal lattice configuration on silicon substrate over 4 in. wafer areas. SFIL was used to prepattern a polymer mask layer, and wet-etching process was employed to transfer the nanopatterns to aluminum (Al) films, thus creating ordered nanoindentation on the Al surface. The ordered nanoindentation guides the growth of nanochannels in the anodization step to create the ordered nanoporous structures. The proposed wafer-scale process is compatible with standard semiconductor fabrication and offers substantial advantages over conventional Al patterning methods in terms of patterning areas, throughput, process simplicity, and process robustness, allowing up to 10 000 imprints or pattern transfer to the Al films.