Patent ID: 7557051

Claim:
A method of fabricating a patterned polymer layer, the method comprising: a) positioning said polymer layer between a patterned mold and a substrate, wherein said mold and said substrate have substantially different hardnesses, and wherein said polymer layer has a thickness T; b) compression molding a pattern having at least one through hole into said polymer layer by pressing said mold and said substrate together; wherein said mold together with said substrate comprises a plurality of unit cells, each having a cell area A, a cell volume V, an occupied cell volume V oc and an unoccupied cell volume equal to V−V oc ; wherein substantially all of a surface of said mold facing said polymer layer is included in said unit cells, and wherein none of said unit cells includes two or more through hole features; wherein a condition A*T≦V−V oc holds for each of said unit cells; whereby room for local flow of said polymer during said compression molding is provided.