Fabrication of stamps for microcontact printing by injection molding

Microcontact printing has been shown to be a viable lithographic technique for the fabrication of a variety of microelectronic components, including source/drain and gate electrodes for organic field effect transistors. Future manufacturing efforts may require a means of mass producing stamps for this process. In the present work, stamps for microcontact printing were rapidly produced by injection molding a commercial polyurethane resin, using a silicon master as the mold insert. The performance of these stamps was evaluated by microcontact printing gold coated silicon surfaces with a fluorinated alkanethiol. Etching of the stamped surface protected by the patterned alkanethiol revealed excellent replication of the submicron linear features of the micromold. The use of injection molding as a standard method for the production of stamps for microcontact printing is proposed and may have advantages for future nanotechnology applications that require mass production of stamps. Because a wide range of polymers may be injection molded, this method may make possible the fabrication of stamps with improved mechanical and chemical properties compared to polydimethylsiloxane based stamps. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.