A Materials-First Approach to Device
Fabrication using Imprint Lithography
James J. Watkins
Polymer Science and Engineering Department andInstitute for Hierarchical Manufacturing
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA USA 01003
E-mail: watkins@umass.edu

Nanoimprint lithography offers high-throughput patterning of nanoscale features withexceptional resolution. The vast majority of NIL applications involve the use of polymer
resists, which often lack the electrical, optical, magnetic, catalytic or physical properties
required for a truly functional device. Over the past several years we have been developing
materials and methods based on polymer/nanoparticle hybrid resists and metal oxide
nanoparticle-based inks to enable the direct imprint patterning of a finished devices. The useof the metal oxide nanoparticle-based inks, for example, enables the fabrication of purely
inorganic device components. Example applications include microbatteries, sensors, opticalcomponents, flat lenses, high performance electrodes, antimicrobial films, and durable masters
for injection molding and imprinting. This talk will describe our approaches, including
resist/ink development and post-patterning processing strategies, that enable the rapid andefficient manufacturing of next generation devices on batch and roll-to-roll process platforms.
Scalability of these approaches is demonstrated with examples from our Advanced Print andRoll-to-Roll Manufacturing Demonstration Facility.
Selected References1-10
(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

Li, W. H.; Christiansen, T. L.; Li, C.; Zhou, Y. L.; Fei, H. F.; Mamakhel, A.; Iversen,B. B.; Watkins, J. J. High-power lithium-ion microbatteries from imprinted 3D
electrodes of sub-10 nm LiMn2O4/Li4Ti5O12 nanocrystals and a copolymer gel
electrolyte. Nano Energy 2018, 52, 431.
Naik, A. R.; Kim, J. J.; Usluer, O.; Arellano, D. L. G.; Secor, E. B.; Facchetti, A.;
Hersam, M. C.; Briseno, A. L.; Watkins, J. J. Direct Printing of Graphene Electrodesfor High-Performance Organic Inverters. Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces 2018, 10(18), 15988.
Arisoy, F. D.; Kolewe, K. W.; Homyak, B.; Kurtz, I. S.; Schiffman, J. D.; Watkins, J.
J. Bioinspired Photocatalytic Shark-Skin Surfaces with Antibacterial and Antifouling
Activity via Nanoimprint Lithography. Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces 2018, 10(23), 20055.
Zhou, Y. L.; Uzun, S. D.; Watkins, N. J.; Li, S. K.; Li, W. H.; Briseno, A. L.; Carter,K. R.; Watkins, J. J. Three-Dimensional CeO2 Woodpile Nanostructures To Enhance
Performance of Enzymatic Glucose Biosensors. Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces
2019, 11 (2), 1821.
Zhou, Y. L.; Li, Y. Y.; Dundar, F.; Carter, K. R.; Watkins, J. J. Fabrication ofpatterned cellulose film via solvent-assisted soft nanoimprint lithography at asubmicron scale. Cellulose 2018, 25 (9), 5185.
Li, W. H.; Zhou, Y. L.; Howell, I. R.; Gai, Y.; Naik, A. R.; Li, S. K.; Carter, K. R.;
Watkins, J. J. Direct Imprinting of Scalable, High-Performance Woodpile Electrodes

(7)

(8)

(9)

(10)

for Three-Dimensional Lithium-Ion Nanobatteries. Acs Applied Materials &Interfaces 2018, 10 (6), 5447.
Li, S. K.; Kazemi-Moridani, A.; Zhou, Y. L.; Howell, I. R.; Kothari, R.; Lee, J. H.;Watkins, J. J. Wavelength-Selective Three-Dimensional Thermal Emitters via Imprint
Lithography and Conformal Metallization. Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces 2018,10 (9), 8173.
Howell, I. R.; Giroire, B.; Garcia, A.; Li, S.; Aymonier, C.; Watkins, J. J. Fabricationof plasmonic TiN nanostructures by nitridation of nanoimprinted TiO2 nanoparticles.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C 2018, 6 (6), 1399.
Kothari, R.; Beaulieu, M. R.; Hendricks, N. R.; Li, S. K.; Watkins, J. J. Direct
Patterning of Robust One-Dimensional, Two-Dimensional, and Three-Dimensional
Crystalline Metal Oxide Nanostructures Using Imprint Lithography and Nanoparticle
Dispersion Inks. Chemistry of Materials 2017, 29 (9), 3908.
Beaulieu, M. R.; Hendricks, N. R.; Watkins, J. J. Large-Area Printing of Optical
Gratings and 3D Photonic Crystals Using Solution-Processable Nanoparticle/Polymer
Composites. ACS Photonics 2014, 1 (9), 799.

Figure 1. Examples of all-inorganic device components fabricated by NIL. High aspectratio, high refractive index TiO2 posts (upper left), anti-microbial ceramic surface (upperright), TiO2 log-pile structure (lower left), LiMn2O4 micro-battery anode (lower right).