JP2010131923A - Uniform pressing apparatus for use in micro-nano imprint process - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a durable uniform pressing apparatus for use in a micro-nano fabrication process, which can provide a sufficient pressure required for complete imprinting on a substrate and which can be made at a low cost. <P>SOLUTION: The uniform pressing apparatus includes upper and lower pressing units and a mold 30. The lower pressing unit 10 includes a supporting container 11, a pressure equalizing liquid 12 to be received within an upwardly-opened accommodating space 111 in the supporting container 11, and pressurizing equipment 14 including a piston member 142. The piston member extends into the accommodating space and can be operated to push the pressure equalizing liquid 12 upwardly in the axial direction toward a substrate 100 disposed on the annular top surface 112 of the supporting container 11. The upper pressing unit 20 can be moved to allow the mold to be in contact with the substrate 100. Subsequently, the piston member is moved to press the substrate against the mold. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a uniform pressing apparatus, and more particularly to a uniform pressing apparatus used in a micro / nano manufacturing process.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional uniform press apparatus used in a micro-nano manufacturing process includes a support unit 1 that supports a substrate 6 to be imprinted, a mold 2 that is disposed on the substrate 6, and an upper part of the support unit 1. A holder 3, a drive unit 4 for moving the holder 3 in the vertical direction, and an equal press member 5 held in the holder 3. The support unit 1 is operable to heat or cool the substrate 6. The uniform press member 5 includes an elastic film 501 made of a material that can withstand high temperatures and high pressures, and a fluid 502 filled in the elastic film 501.

  When the drive unit 4 is operated to move the holder 3 downward and presses the uniform pressing member 5 against the mold 2, the uniform pressing member 5 is equal to the mold 2 so as to perform the nanoimprint operation on the substrate 6. Apply pressure.

However, the conventional equal press apparatus described above has the following disadvantages:
(1) The elastic film 501 is required to be made of a material that can withstand high temperatures and high pressures. Such materials are expensive and increase the manufacturing cost of the uniform press.
(2) The service life of the elastic film 501 is short due to the use of the uniform press member 5 under high temperature and high pressure.
(3) The drive unit 4 is typically configured as a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder. Such a cylinder can apply only a limited pressure to the mold 2. Thus, when the substrate 6 is a thin metal plate, the pressure applied to press the mold 2 against the substrate 6 may be insufficient to provide a complete imprint on the substrate 6.

  The present invention provides a durable equal press apparatus used in micro-nano manufacturing processes that can provide sufficient pressure required for complete imprint on a substrate and can be made at low cost. , For the purpose.

  Therefore, the equal press apparatus of this invention has an upper and lower press unit, and a mold. The lower pressing unit includes a support container, a pressure equalizing liquid received in an upwardly open storage space in the container, and a pressing equipment having a piston member. The piston member extends into the receiving space and is operable to push up the pressure equalizing liquid in the axial direction toward the substrate disposed on the annular upper surface of the container. The upper press unit is movable to allow contact between the mold and the substrate. The piston member is then moved to press the substrate against the mold.

It is a schematic fragmentary sectional view of the conventional equal press apparatus. 1 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of a uniform press apparatus used in a micro-nano manufacturing process according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating how the pressure equalizing liquid is pressed against the substrate by the piston member. FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but illustrating how a concave surface is formed on the substrate after a nanoimprint operation has been performed on the substrate. FIG. 3 is a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a second preferred embodiment of a uniform press apparatus used in a micro-nano manufacturing process according to the present invention.

  These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the drawings.

  Before the present invention is described in more detail in conjunction with the preferred embodiments, it should be noted that like elements and structures are indicated by like reference numerals throughout the application.

  Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4, a first preferred embodiment of a uniform press apparatus according to the present invention performs a micro-nano manufacturing process on a substrate 100 having opposing upper and lower surfaces 110,120. Used to do. The uniform press apparatus includes a lower press unit 10, an upper press unit 20, and a mold 30.

  The lower press unit 10 includes a support container 11, a pressure equalizing liquid 12, a sealing member 13, and a pressurizing device 14.

  The support container 11 is disposed below the upper surface 112, an accommodation space 111 that opens upward, an annular upper surface 112 that defines an upper end of the accommodation space 111 and terminates with respect to the lower surface 120 of the substrate 100. An annular mounting surface 113 and a cylindrical shoulder surface 114 connected between the inner periphery of the upper surface 112 and the outer periphery of the mounting surface 113. The upper end of the accommodation space 111 is sealed by the substrate 100. The accommodation space 111 has a circular cross section, a large-diameter portion 115 adjacent to the substrate 100, and a small-diameter portion 116 that is close to the pressurizing device 14 and has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the large-diameter portion 115. The large diameter portion 115 is disposed between the substrate 100 and the small diameter portion 116.

  The pressure equalizing liquid 12 is received in the accommodation space 111 in the support container 11.

  The sealing member 13 is clamped between the annular mounting surface 113 and the lower surface 120 of the substrate 100, and a metal sealing ring disposed on the annular mounting surface 113 and in contact with the shoulder surface 114, and the annular mounting surface 113. It has a rubber sealing ring 132 disposed thereon. The metal sealing ring 131 has an annular groove 133 that opens inward along its inner periphery. The rubber sealing ring 132 engages with the groove 133 in the metal sealing ring 131. In this embodiment, the metal sealing ring 131 is made of a copper alloy such as an alloy of copper and beryllium.

  The pressurizing device 14 includes a cylinder 141, a piston member 142 that extends to the small-diameter portion 116 of the accommodation space 111, and a compressed liquid 143 that is received in the cylinder 141. The piston member 142 is movable with respect to the cylinder 141 and the support container 11 along the axial direction (X). The piston member 142 includes a large-diameter head 144 that is movably disposed in the cylinder 141, a small-diameter piston head 145 that is movably disposed in the small-diameter portion 116 and has a diameter smaller than the diameter of the large-diameter piston head 144, and a large-diameter The piston head and the small-bore piston heads 144 and 145 are fixedly interconnected and have a connecting portion 146 extending along the axial direction (X). In this embodiment, the pressurizing device 14 is connected to a pressure source (not shown) such as a hydraulic pump. The pressure source is operable to drive the compressed liquid 143 to move the large bore piston head 144, and the small bore piston head 145 is moved along the axial direction (X), thereby causing the pressure equalizing liquid 12 to move. Squeeze.

  The mold 30 is disposed on the upper surface 110 of the substrate 100 and has a forming surface 31 that faces the upper surface 110 of the substrate 100.

  The upper press unit 20 is disposed immediately above the lower press unit 10 and is movable with respect to the support container 11 along the axial direction (X) so as to contact the mold 30. The upper press unit 20 can heat or cool the mold 30 and the substrate 100 in a known manner.

  When the upper press unit 20 comes into contact with the mold 30, the upper press unit 20 is stopped, and the pressure source is a small-bore piston for the pressure equalizing liquid 12 under automatic control as shown in FIG. Actuated to move and press rod 145. Accordingly, the uniform upward pressure is applied to press the upper surface 110 of the substrate 100 against the forming surface 31 of the mold 30. As a result, a concave shape is formed on the upper surface 110 of the substrate 100 as shown in FIG.

According to the above, the equal press apparatus of the present invention has the following advantages:
(1) The pressure equalizing liquid 12 is used to contact and press directly against the substrate 100 instead of the film utilized in the prior art described above. Therefore, the equal press apparatus of the present invention is more durable and inexpensive.
(2) Since the cross-sectional area of the large-diameter piston head 144 is larger than the cross-sectional area of the small-diameter piston head 145, the pressing force against the pressure equalizing liquid 12 generated by the small-diameter head 145 is caused by the compressed liquid 145. Is several times that applied to. Thus, the power required for the pressure source can be greatly reduced. In other words, even if the substrate 100 is a thin metal plate, the equal press apparatus of the present invention can apply sufficient pressure to perform a complete imprint operation on the upper surface 110 of the substrate 100.

  Alternatively, the mold 30 can be fixedly attached to the lower surface of the upper press unit 20. With such an alternative structure, the upper press unit 20 is stopped when the mold 30 contacts the substrate 100 during the downward movement of the upper press unit 20 under automatic control.

  FIG. 5 shows a second preferred embodiment of a uniform press apparatus according to the present invention that is structurally similar to the first preferred embodiment. In contrast to the first preferred embodiment, the cylinder 141 contacts and is fixedly attached to the support vessel 11, the shoulder surface 114 is frustoconical, and the metal sealing ring 131 is , Disposed on shoulder surface 114. In this embodiment, the shoulder surface 114 extends inward and downward from the inner periphery of the annular upper surface 112 to the outer periphery of the mounting surface 113. The metal sealing ring 131 has an annular inner peripheral surface 134 that contacts the rubber sealing ring 132.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Support unit 2 Mold 3 Holder 4 Drive unit 5 Uniform press member 6 Substrate 10 Lower pressurization unit 11 Support container 12 Pressure equalizing liquid 13 Sealing member 14 Pressurization equipment 31 Molding surface 100 Substrate 110 Upper surface 111 Housing space 112 Annular upper surface 113 annular mounting surface 114 shoulder surface 115 large bore piston 116 small bore piston 120 lower surface 131 metal sealing ring 132 rubber sealing ring 133 groove 134 annular inner circumferential surface 141 cylinder 142 piston member 143 compressed liquid 144 large bore piston head 145 small bore Piston head 146 Connection portion 501 Elastic film 502 Fluid X axial direction

Claims (6)

An equal press apparatus adapted to perform a nanoimprint operation on a substrate having opposing upper and lower surfaces comprising:
A lower press unit having a support container, a pressure equalizing liquid, and a pressurizing device;
An upper press unit disposed immediately above the lower press unit and movable relative to the support container of the lower press unit;
A mold having a molding surface adapted to be disposed on the upper surface of the substrate, the upper surface of the substrate being adapted to be pressed by the lower press unit;
Characterized by
The support container defines an accommodating space that opens upward, and an upper end of the accommodating space, and the upper end of the accommodating space is sealed by the substrate with respect to the lower surface of the substrate. An annular top surface adapted to terminate, and
The pressure equalizing liquid is received in the accommodating space in the support container,
The pressurizing device has a piston member, the piston member extends to the receiving space in the support container and is operable to push the pressure equalizing liquid upward in the axial direction.
Equal press device. The support container further includes an annular mounting surface disposed below the annular upper surface, and a cylindrical shoulder surface connected between an inner periphery of the annular upper surface and an outer periphery of the annular mounting surface. Have
The lower pressing unit further comprises a sealing member disposed on the annular mounting surface;
The sealing member includes a metal sealing ring disposed on the annular mounting surface and contacting the shoulder surface; and a rubber sealing ring disposed on the annular mounting surface;
The metal sealing ring has an annular groove that opens inward along an inner periphery thereof, and the rubber sealing ring engages with the groove in the metal sealing ring.
The equal press apparatus of Claim 1. The support container further includes an annular mounting surface disposed below the annular upper surface, and a truncated cone extending inwardly and downwardly from an inner periphery of the annular upper surface to an outer periphery of the annular mounting surface. A shoulder surface, and
The lower press unit further includes a sealing member,
The sealing member includes a metal sealing ring disposed on the shoulder surface and a rubber sealing ring disposed on the annular mounting surface;
The metal sealing ring has an annular inner peripheral surface that contacts the rubber sealing ring;
The equal pressing apparatus according to claim 1. The receiving space in the support container has a circular cross section, a small diameter portion, a diameter larger than the diameter of the small diameter portion, and is adapted to be positioned between the substrate and the small diameter portion. A large diameter portion, and
The piston member of the pressurizing device extends to the small-diameter portion of the accommodation space;
The equal pressing apparatus according to claim 1. The pressurizing device further comprises a cylinder and a compressed liquid received in the cylinder,
The piston member is movable with respect to the cylinder in the axial direction and is movably disposed in the small-diameter portion of the housing space, and is movably disposed in the cylinder, A small bore piston head having a diameter smaller than the diameter of the bore piston head,
The equal press apparatus according to claim 4, further characterized in that: The piston member further includes a connecting portion that fixedly interconnects the large-diameter piston head and the small-diameter piston head.
The equal press apparatus according to claim 5, further characterized by the above.

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