A hybrid nanoimprint soft lithography (HNSL) technique was used to fabricate nanopatterned sapphire substrates (NPSSs) for light-emitting diodes (LEDs). HNSL combines the high resolution of nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and the conformal contact of soft lithography. The key component of HNSL is the hybrid mold, which consists of rigid nanopatterns with an anti-adhesion coating on an elastic poly(dimethylsiloxane) support. The mold was used to fabricate nanopatterns on a 2-in. sapphire substrate through a soft UV-NIL system with a double-layer resist, a top UV-curable layer, and an underlying PMMA layer. Nickel dot arrays were formed from the imprinted patterns through a lift-off process and used as the etching mask during the sapphire etching process due to nickel's high etching resistance. A wafer-scale circular-truncated-cone shaped NPSS was achieved by chlorine-based inductively coupled plasma etching. Typical blue LEDs with emission wavelengths of 452 nm were grown by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on the NPSS and a flat sapphire substrate (FSS), respectively. The integral electroluminescence intensity and light output power of the NPSS LED were enhanced by 57.9% and 43.8%, respectively, compared to the FSS LED. The high uniformity in photoluminescence intensity across the entire NPSS LED wafer indicated good uniformity of nanopatterns fabricated by HNSL. Low cost and availability of the process and the ability to fabricate at the wafer scale make HNSL a promising method for production of NPSSs.
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November 2014
Research Article|
October 22 2014
Fabrication of wafer-scale nanopatterned sapphire substrate by hybrid nanoimprint lithography
Xu Guo;
Xu Guo
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Jing Hu;
Jing Hu
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Zhe Zhuang;
Zhe Zhuang
Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Mengmeng Deng;
Mengmeng Deng
Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nano Science and Technology Institute,
University of Science and Technology of China
, Suzhou 215123, People's Republic of China
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Feixiang Wu;
Feixiang Wu
Focuslightings (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.
, Suzhou 215125, People's Republic of China
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Xie Li;
Xie Li
Focuslightings (Suzhou) Co., Ltd.
, Suzhou 215125, People's Republic of China
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Bin Liu;
Bin Liu
Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Changsheng Yuan;
Changsheng Yuan
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Haixiong Ge;
Haixiong Ge
a)
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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Feng Li;
Feng Li
Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics
, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, People's Republic of China
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Yanfeng Chen
Yanfeng Chen
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
Nanjing University
, Nanjing 210093, People's Republic of China
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a)
Electronic mail: [email protected]
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 32, 06FG06 (2014)
Article history
Received:
June 27 2014
Accepted:
October 08 2014
Citation
Xu Guo, Jing Hu, Zhe Zhuang, Mengmeng Deng, Feixiang Wu, Xie Li, Bin Liu, Changsheng Yuan, Haixiong Ge, Feng Li, Yanfeng Chen; Fabrication of wafer-scale nanopatterned sapphire substrate by hybrid nanoimprint lithography. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 November 2014; 32 (6): 06FG06. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4898778
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