Patent ID: 8747092

Claim:
An apparatus for imprinting a substrate with a mold, wherein the substrate has a moldable surface and the mold has a molding surface, comprising: a chamber; a mold fixture located inside said chamber and connected to said chamber, wherein the periphery of said mold is attached to said mold fixture during operation of the apparatus, said mold fixture comprises a chamber-interface seal at the interface between said mold fixture and said chamber and a mold-interface seal at corresponding interface between said mold fixture and said periphery, wherein the mold fixture has a body firmly attached to an inner surface of a top wall of the chamber, forming a mini-chamber by body of the mold fixture, the mold installed on the mold fixture, and the inner surface of the top wall of the chamber, a chamber volume being defined as the chamber minus the mini-chamber; a stage positioner located inside said chamber and connected to said chamber to dispose said substrate adjacent said mold in such way that said moldable surface faces said molding surface when both said substrate and said mold are present inside the chamber, wherein the stage positioner is configured to control the gap between said molding surface and said moldable surface when both said mold and said substrate are present inside the chamber; and a gas pressure source providing a first gas pressure to the chamber volume and a second gas pressure to the mini-chamber that is different from the first gas pressure, a provided differential pressure between the two sides of the mold provided to deform said molding surface transversely toward or away the moldable surface when both said mold and said substrate are present inside the chamber.