Fabrication of ZnO nano-structures using UV nanoimprint lithography of a ZnO nano-particle dispersion resin

Recently, nanoimprint lithography (NIL) has gained great attention as an effective patterning technology in the fields of light emitting diodes (LEDs), solar cells, and other optical devices, because of its simplicity and cost effectiveness. The aim of this study is the development of an imprint resin containing dispersed zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-particles that is applicable in the UV NIL process. UV NIL uses conventional monomer-based resins, which contain a UV initiator, but restricts the use of imprinted structures in optical devices due to their relatively low refractive index. In order to resolve this problem, an imprint resin containing dispersed ZnO nano-particles was prepared, using which submicron-scale structures were fabricated by the UV NIL process. The haziness of submicron-scale ZnO nano-particle resin structures and the refractive index of the ZnO nano-particle dispersion resin were measured to analyze the optical properties of the ZnO nano-particle dispersion resin and the resulting structures.