RESEARCH ON FABRICATING HIGH-FIDELITY SOFT MASK FOR FLEXIBLE LITHOGRAPHY

As the soft mask is an essential element for the flexible lithography, it is important to obtain the soft mask with high fidelity. A method of fabricating high-fidelity soft mask for the flexible lithography is proposed, which consists of making Au patterns on the hard substrate by the conventional micro fabrication process, and then transferring the Au patterns on transparent polymer film to form the soft mask. The main advantage of the method is that the soft mask can obtain high-quality Au pattern arrays easily: the quality of Au patterns on the hard substrate can be guaranteed by the conventional micro fabrication process; meanwhile it is convenient to control the transfer conditions so as to bring no damage to Au patterns during transfer process. Finally, soft masks with high-fidelity Au micro-patterns are fabricated and high-fidelity photo resist patterns on flat and curve substrates are replicated by the soft masks also.