Nanoscale grating structure can be utilized in many practical applications in optics, flat-panel displays, and biosensors. Dynamic nanoinscribing (DNI) technique was newly developed to create large-area and truly continuous nanograting patterns in a variety of metal or polymer materials with feature size down to sub-50 nm and at very high speed. In this paper we investigate the nanopatterning of PC and SU-8 by DNI process and then take advantage of its superior optical and thermal properties to explore its applications in nanooptics and nanofluidics. To carry out nanoinscribing, silicon grating templates with different periods were first fabricated. The inscribing property of PC and SU-8 under various pressures and temperatures was systematically studied, in which the experimental results were compared with the simulation results described by a modified equation of Squeezed flow. Inscribed polymeric gratings with period of 700nm were achieved and excellent uniformity can now be routinely replicated using this optimized process. Using this technique, free-standing subwavelenth gratings based on SU-8 are successfully fabricated and their performance are characterized. The inscribed polymeric gratings could also be sealed with another bare layer thermally to serve as enclosed channels after oxygen plasma treatment. The fabricated nanofluidic channels were characterized using spontaneous capillary filling with dyed water, demonstrating good quality of sealing.

Date Published: 8 September 2011
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8191, International Symposium on Photoelectronic Detection and Imaging 2011: Sensor and Micromachined Optical Device Technologies, 81912D (8 September 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.902409

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8191:
International Symposium on Photoelectronic Detection and Imaging 2011: Sensor and Micromachined Optical Device Technologies
Yuelin Wang; Huikai Xie; Yufeng Jin, Editor(s)