Numerical simulation of time and temperature dependent polymer deformation in thermal imprint process

A finite element simulation tool for thermal imprint process has been developed. In the system, polymer is assumed to be a visco-elastic body represented by the generalized Maxwell model. We experimentally measured visco-elastic properties of a polymer material and derived parameters used in the simulation tool. Using the same polymer material, we performed imprint experiments to examine time and temperature dependent polymer deformation. Comparing the polymer deformations in simulated results with those in experiments, we confirmed that the developed simulation tool and the measured material parameters were useful for analysis of thermal imprint process.