Grain Size Effect on Nano-Pattern Formability in Direct Imprint

This paper presents an experimental study on the effects of thin-film properties on metallic pattern formation by using direct imprint process. The mechanical properties like hardness and Young's modulus are characterized by nanoindentation test. From the experimental results, the following phenomena can be observed. With the increase of the grain size in the thin films, the formation height and the hardness will be higher and softer because the grain boundary could enhance the hardness of the thin films. On the strength of that, the aluminum thin films deposited by DC sputter could have better formability for the process of direct imprint.