Deformation behavior of solid polymer during hot embossing process

Though hot embossing is a well known technique for the fabrication of polymer based micro-device, the deformation behavior of solid polymer during hot embossing process is not investigated clearly. In this paper, the deformation behavior of solid polymer was observed by two methods, synchronous observation and asynchronous analysis. A finite element simulation and a phenomenological model were used to evaluate the deformation behavior of solid polymer during hot embossing. Results showed that the deformation of solid polymer during embossing process included two stages. One was a stress concentration and strain hardening stage, which occurred during the heating and applying pressure process. The "swallowtails" induced by incomplete filling generate at this stage. The other was a stress relaxation and deformation recovery stage, which occurred during the remaining temperature and pressure process. The "swallowtails" were eliminated at this stage. The second stage was significant for improving replication precision, but it had not been reported before. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.