Microcontact printing of biomolecular gratings from SU-8 masters duplicated by Thermal Soft UV NIL

Thermal Soft UV nanoimprint lithography (NIL) was performed to replicate nanostructures in SU-8 resist. The SU-8 resist was structured with a PDMS stamp molded against an original silicon master which comported gratings of lines (500 nm width/1 mu m pitch). The patterns obtained in SU-8 were used in a second step as a template for PDMS molding of daughter stamps. Pattern transfer quality and dimension control were achieved on these second generation PDMS stamps using AFM measurements. As a final validation of the whole duplication processes, these second generation PDMS stamps were finally employed to perform mu CP of streptavidin molecules on a glass slide activated by plasma O-2 treatment. AFM observation and fluorescence microscopy reveal that molecular patterns produced with SU8-molded PDMS stamps are not discernable from those obtained with a PDMS stamp directly molded on the original silicon master. Coupling Thermal Soft UV NIL and microcontact printing opens a new method for generating a large quantity of SU-8 templates on which functional PDMS stamps can be replicated in a reduced time. We thus propose a functional duplication process for soft-lithography implementation which may further reduce the cost of this technology for industrial development. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.