Patent ID: 7641840

Claim:
A method for expelling a gas positioned between a substrate and a mold assembly, substrate and mold assembly further having droplets of a liquid positioned therebetween, the method comprising the steps of: positioning the mold assembly and the substrate such that the mold assembly is proximate to a surface of the substrate, the surface of the substrate having droplets of liquid positioned thereon, the mold assembly having a first region, a second region, and a third region, the second region surrounding the first region and the third region surrounding the first and second regions; altering a shape of the mold assembly by bowing the first and third regions away from the substrate to bow the second region toward the substrate to decrease a gap defined between the second region of the mold assembly and the substrate; contacting a sub-portion of the droplets of liquid with the second region of the mold assembly prior to contacting remaining droplets of liquid with the second region, such that the gas expels from between the substrate and the mold assembly and the droplets of liquid fill a volume defined between the mold assembly and substrate; and, contacting the remaining droplets of liquid with the second region of the mold assembly.