Mold cleaning with polydimethylsiloxane for nanoimprint lithography
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 9, 2026
Improved Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Double Casting via Silicone Oil Treatment for Densely Packed Microstructure Replication
Published on: July 18, 2025
Peng Lin1, Shuang Pi, Hao Jiang
1Nanodevices and Integrated Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Massachusetts, 100 Natural Resources Road, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Abstract:
We present a simple and effective mold cleaning method for nanoimprint lithography. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) prepolymer is spin-coated onto a contaminated imprint mold, thermally cured in an ambient environment, and then peeled off afterwards. Contaminants of 100 s μm to sub-50 nm sizes are effectively cleaned within one cycle. During the cleaning process, a very thin PDMS film (1-2 nm) is uniformly coated onto the mold surface, serving as a protection and anti-sticking layer.
