Injection Moulding Difficult Nanopatterns with Hybrid Polymer Inlays

Hybrid polymeric inlays, patterned by nanoimprint lithography, are used to rapidly mass replicate pillar-like nanostructures by injection moulding. This is difficult to achieve with traditional nickel inlays due to the rapid heat transfer of the metal, which results in premature cooling of the molten polymer and improper filling of nanoscale features. Using hybrid inlays, nanopillars can reliably be stretched by up to 40% of their designed height by adjusting moulding parameters. Hybrid inlays display longevity of more than 2000 cycles and can rapidly be fabricated to firmly establish injection moulding as an exceptionally useful tool for the high volume prototyping and production of nanopatterned polymeric devices.