JP2013077617A - Manufacturing method of original plate for molding low reflection structure and original plate - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To mold a surface microstructure improved in low reflection characteristics.SOLUTION: As a substrate material for an original plate, a lithium niobate monocrystal substrate 41 is used. On a surface of the substrate 41, a metal membrane 42 of Cr or the like is formed as a dry etching mask, a resin micropattern 44 is generated thereon, and this is used as a mask to perform etching, thereby obtaining a metal micropattern 45. By etching the lithium niobate monocrystal substrate 41 while shrinking the metal micropattern 45 using the metal micropattern 45 as a mask, a structure is generated in which almost no flat surface is present within a microstructure.

Description

  The present invention relates to an original plate manufacturing method and an original plate for forming a low-reflection structure that reduces the reflectance on the surface of a material by forming a fine structure on the surface.

  Suppression of reflection on the surfaces of various optical members is eagerly desired in a wide range of fields. For example, if the reflection on the surface of a film affixed to a surface of a liquid crystal display or the like is large, external lighting or scenery will be reflected on the display surface, making it difficult to visually recognize the image / video that is originally displayed. Problems arise. In order to solve such problems, many efforts have been made to reduce the reflectance of the surface.

By the way, when light enters a substance from one substance and there is a difference in refractive index between the two substances, a part of the incident light is reflected. The reflection on the surface of the display, which has been mentioned above, is caused by this physical phenomenon.
At this time, it is widely known theoretically that this reflection increases as the difference in refractive index between the two substances increases.
In other words, in order to suppress reflection, a difference in refractive index between two substances may be reduced.
For example, when two different types of materials such as films are bonded together, the reflection at the bonding interface can be reduced by adjusting the refractive index of each material and the adhesive to be used as close as possible. .

However, in the case of the display described above, the most widespread problem is reflection on the surface of a plate or film placed in the air. The refractive index of air is a very low value of approximately “1”, and there is virtually no material having a refractive index very close to this value.
For this reason, in order to reduce reflection under such conditions, measures other than adjusting the original optical characteristics of the material are required.
As one of such measures, a method of forming a fine structure pattern shorter than the wavelength of incident light on the material surface is known (see Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1).
For example, when a film in which such a fine structure pattern is formed is placed in the air, in the region where the fine structure pattern is formed, the refractive index value is apparently intermediate between the values of air and the film. Value. The value becomes closer to the refractive index of air as the proportion of air in the region increases, and conversely approaches the refractive index of the film when the proportion of film material is larger.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the fine structure pattern 12 formed on the substrate 11 has a structure such as a cylinder or a prism and has no shape change in the depth direction, such a fine structure is formed. The film on which the pattern is formed exhibits the property as if a thin film having a refractive index intermediate between air and film material is formed on the surface. In this case, it is considered that the reflectance is lower than when light is incident on the smooth film surface from the air, but after all, the refractive index changes on the upper and lower surfaces of the fine structure pattern. The light will be reflected at the same rate.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, a case is considered in which the fine structure pattern 13 formed on the substrate 11 has a forward tapered shape.
In this case, since the ratio of the air and the film material changes continuously in the depth direction, it is considered that the apparent refractive index also changes continuously in the depth direction. As long as there is no discontinuous change in the refractive index, no light reflection should occur, so in principle this portion should not reflect light.

However, in the uppermost surface and the lowermost surface of the fine structure pattern 13 shown in FIG. 3B, both the air and the film material are present at a certain ratio in the horizontal cross-sectional portion of the fine structure pattern 13, so that the refractive index. Discontinuity occurs. Therefore, although it is less than in the case of FIG. 3A, it is considered that a certain amount of light is reflected.
Therefore, one step further, as shown in FIG. 3C, the fine structure pattern 14 formed on the substrate 11 is a weight-like structure with a sharp tip, and the weight-like structures are on the bottom side, that is, the substrate. Consider the case where the structure is in contact with the 11 side. In this case, it is geometrically clear that the ratio of the film material in the horizontal cross section of the fine structure pattern 14 continuously changes from “0 to 1” with respect to the depth direction. As a result, the apparent refractive index continuously changes from the value of the refractive index of air to the value of the refractive index of the film material, so that reflection of light does not occur in principle.

  Thus, it can be seen that the shape as shown in FIG. 3C is optimal in order to enhance the effect of reducing the reflectance by the fine structure pattern on the surface. However, since the target fine pattern is as small as the wavelength of visible light or less, it is not a realistic method to manufacture a fine pattern by a method such as machining, and some method is used. It is necessary to form a fine structure in a batch.

Here, an etching method is easily considered as a method of forming fine irregularities on the surface of the substrate in a lump to some extent.
Etching methods are roughly classified into wet etching using a chemical solution and dry etching using a gas or plasma. There is no need to limit which method is used, but dry etching using plasma is generally used to form a fine structure pattern of nanometer (nm) level.

When the substrate is a soft resin such as a film, a surface pattern transfer technique such as hot embossing or nanoimprinting or a resin molding technique such as injection molding can be used.
However, in this case, a molding original plate (also referred to as a mold or a template) is required, and it is necessary to form a fine concavo-convex structure on the surface of the original plate using a technique such as dry etching.

  When a fine pattern is formed by etching, it is generally necessary to prepare an etching mask corresponding to the fine pattern on the substrate surface. A typical technique is to use a pattern formed of a resin material called a resist as a mask. As a resist pattern forming method, lithography using ultraviolet light or an electron beam is typical, but there are other methods such as resin self-organization and a block copolymer. Also, for example, there is a method of forming a fine structure without using a resist mask or a lithography technique in a method in which anodization of an aluminum substrate and wet etching are used together.

“Reduction of Lens Reflexion by the“ Moth Eye “Principle”, P.A. B. CLAPHAM & M.C. C. HUTLEY, Nature, vol. 244, pp. 281-282 (1973)

JP 2006-038928 A

  By the way, when a fine structure is manufactured by dry etching, the purpose of dry etching is generally to obtain a structure having a vertical sidewall shape as shown in FIG. Therefore, in order to obtain a forward tapered side wall as shown in FIGS. 3B and 3C, it is necessary to greatly change the etching conditions, and a side wall having a desired taper angle is not always obtained. . However, if an appropriate etching condition is obtained, it is not so difficult to obtain a forward tapered structure as shown in FIG.

However, even if the etching conditions for obtaining the forward tapered side wall are established and the structure as shown in FIG. 3B can be obtained, it is further advanced as shown in FIG. Further difficulty arises in obtaining a side wall having a structure constituted by a tapered surface, that is, a structure having a sharp tip. The reason will be described in detail below with reference to FIG.
In order to obtain a forward tapered side wall on the surface of the substrate 21 by dry etching, there are roughly two methods. One is a method of obtaining a forward tapered structure 23 by using a relatively large resist mask 22 and etching the substrate 21 while shrinking the resist mask 22 during the etching process, as shown in FIG. is there. As shown in FIG. 4B, the etching is started using a relatively small resist mask 24, and the sidewall protective film is excessively deposited during the etching so that the pattern is thickened. In this method, the forward tapered structure 25 is obtained.

From the point of view of simply obtaining a forward tapered side wall, both methods have advantages and disadvantages, and it cannot be said that either is decisively superior. Therefore, it suffices to select which method is adopted according to the desired shape and dimensions.
However, whichever method is used, it is not easy to form a fine pattern having a convex structure with a sharp tip as shown in FIG. 3C and in which the convex structures are in contact with each other on the bottom side. Absent.

  The reason is as follows. That is, in the case of the method of contracting the resist mask 22 shown in FIG. 4A, if the resist mask 22 is contracted and etching is continued until it completely disappears, the tip width of the forward taper structure 23 becomes substantially zero. It ’s not that difficult. However, since this method reduces the width of the resist mask 22 during etching, basically, the width of the final forward tapered structure 23 is equal to the initial width of the resist mask 22, or Should be smaller.

  However, as long as the resist mask 22 is resolved as a pattern, there should be a finite gap between the adjacent patterns. In general, a gap of about 50 nm must be opened at the minimum. The fact that the forward tapered structure 23 to be etched is narrowed while the resist mask 22 is contracted from this state is that the forward tapered structure 23 is not in contact with each other. In other words, with this method, the width of the tip of the convex structure can be made substantially “0”, but it is difficult to etch the bottom side of the convex structure so that the convex structures are in contact.

Next, consider the case of the method of FIG.
In this case, since the etching is performed so that the forward tapered structure 25 becomes thicker during the etching, the gap on the bottom surface side of the forward tapered structure 25 becomes narrower as the etching progresses. As a result, the forward tapered structures 25 can be brought into almost contact with each other so that there is almost no gap.
When this method is used, conditions are set such that the reaction product during etching is most likely to adhere to the substrate surface. The product adhering to the upper surface of the substrate and the bottom surface of the etched portion is removed again by the impact of the ions generated in the plasma colliding with the substrate, but the product adhering to the side wall is incident at an angle close to parallel. For this reason, kinetic energy cannot be received effectively and it cannot be detached from the side wall. For this reason, the selective deposition on the side wall of the product proceeds, and as a result, the forward tapered side wall is formed so that the bottom surface side of the opening is closed.

  However, on the other hand, it is not easy to sharpen the tip on the upper surface side of the forward tapered structure 25. This is because this method basically employs etching conditions with high sidewall protection. For this reason, since the resist mask 24 is difficult to shrink during etching, the final tip taper width of the forward tapered structure 25 does not shrink (shrink) greatly from the width of the resist mask 24 at the start of etching. For this reason, in order to narrow the tip in order to reduce the reflectance, it is necessary to make the width of the resist mask 24 as small as possible.

However, even if an attempt is made to form a very narrow resist pattern of, for example, 50 nm or less, the adhesion between the resist and the substrate surface is reduced, and the resist mask 24 is peeled off from the substrate 21 surface. .
For this reason, the width of the pattern of the resist mask 24 can be practically formed only with a width of at least about 50 nm. As a result, a flat portion remains at the tip of the forward tapered structure 25 after etching. It is.

  For the above reasons, when dry etching is used, it is relatively easy to obtain the structure as shown in FIG. 3B, but the structure as shown in FIG. It is difficult to obtain. In order to obtain the structure shown in FIG. 3C by dry etching, the effects of both FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B act simultaneously, and the bottom portion of the adjacent forward tapered structure is shown in FIG. It is necessary to set an etching condition that makes contact with the effect of (b) and the width of the tip portion of each forward tapered structure is substantially “0”, and it is very difficult to optimize the balance.

As an example, a case of dry etching of a quartz substrate, which is widely used as a mold material for UV nanoimprint, is given.
In order to etch a pattern having a pitch of 800 nm or less, which is the same as the wavelength of light, it is common to use anisotropic plasma etching with a fluorocarbon gas using a chromium thin film pattern as a mask.

  According to the inventors' previous experiments, it is very difficult to form a forward tapered structure of quartz by a mechanism as shown in FIG. This is because it is difficult to set etching conditions with high side wall protection in quartz etching. For this reason, there is a strong tendency for the pattern to narrow due to the effect of FIG. 4A. However, since the etching selectivity with chrome is very high, the effect of retreating the mask during etching cannot be expected so much. As a result, only a side wall that is nearly vertical can be obtained, and it is very difficult to obtain a shape as shown in FIG.

As another example, consider the case of dry etching of a silicon substrate, which is often used as a mold for thermal nanoimprinting.
In this case, it is possible to etch using a chromium thin film or the like as a mask as in the case of quartz, but it is also possible to etch more simply using a resist pattern formed by lithography as a mask. In addition, as in the case of quartz, a fluorocarbon-based gas is used as an etching gas, and anisotropic plasma etching is performed.

In the case of silicon etching, by using a gas such as C ₄ F ₈ , etching conditions with high side wall protection can be set, so that etching is performed while thickening the pattern as shown in FIG. Is possible. However, if the protective property is too high, the progress of the dry etching itself is hindered, so that it is difficult to obtain a side wall shape having a gentle slope such as 45 ° or less. According to the inventors' previous experiments, although a side wall angle of about 70 to 80 ° was obtained, it was difficult to obtain a gentler slope than that.

  Further, in order to obtain the shape as shown in FIG. 4B by silicon etching, it is necessary to make the dot pattern width of the resist mask very small. According to the inventors' previous experiments, the dot width has to be about 50 to 80 nm, although it depends on the pattern pitch. Such a fine dot pattern is quite difficult to form even if electron beam lithography is used.

For the above reason, when a silicon substrate is used, a structure having a shape as shown in FIG. Further, since the silicon substrate is opaque to ultraviolet light, it is one of the disadvantages that it cannot be basically used as a mold for UV nanoimprint.
As described above, when a silicon or quartz substrate, which is a material generally used for nanoimprint molds, is used, it is not always easy to manufacture a master plate for antireflective structure having a good characteristic shape. .

As a result of intensive studies, the inventors have found that this problem can be solved by using lithium niobate as a material to be dry-etched instead of them, and have completed the present invention.
An original plate manufacturing method for molding a low-reflection structure according to claim 1 of the present invention is for forming a low-reflection structure that reduces the reflectance of light on the surface by providing a fine structure on the surface. A method for producing an original plate, wherein a lithium niobate single crystal substrate is used as a substrate material for the original plate.

A method for producing an original plate according to claim 2 is the method for producing an original plate according to claim 1, wherein the microstructure showing low reflection characteristics for molding the low reflection structure is formed on the surface of the lithium niobate single crystal. It is characterized by being formed by dry etching.
A method for producing an original plate according to claim 3 is the method for producing an original plate according to claim 2, wherein, as the fine structure, a plurality of convex portions having the same shape are formed adjacent to each other, and a side wall shape of the convex portion is formed. Further, in the horizontal cross section of the fine structure, both the proportion of the convex portion in the upper end position of the convex portion and the proportion of the non-convex portion in the bottom surface position of the convex portion in the horizontal cross section of the microstructure It is characterized by being zero.

A method for producing an original plate according to claim 4 is the method for producing an original plate according to claim 2 or 3, wherein a fluorocarbon-based gas is used as an introduction gas for the dry etching, and the lithium niobate single crystal and A reaction product having a low vapor pressure is produced by the reaction of
Further, the original plate according to claim 5 of the present invention is characterized by being generated using the method for producing an original plate according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

According to the original plate manufacturing method of the present invention, an original plate having a low reflection structure can be generated. In particular, since there is almost no gap between adjacent convex portions on the bottom surface side of the fine structure, that is, a fine structure without a flat surface can be easily obtained, excellent low reflection characteristics can be expected. .
In addition, by using a lithium niobate single crystal substrate as the original substrate material, silicon is used as the substrate material, creating a structure with a gentler inclination of the side wall taper, compared to the case of making a similar fine structure. it can. Therefore, it is possible to obtain an original plate having a wide shape control range and easy nanoimprinting.

  Furthermore, for example, as a master for UV nanoimprint, a shape that is difficult to realize by dry etching of quartz can be manufactured. Therefore, for UV nanoimprint with excellent low reflection characteristics that was difficult to realize using either silicon or quartz. A mold can be manufactured.

It is an example of the process figure for demonstrating the original plate manufacturing method concerning this invention. It is the SEM photograph and cross-sectional schematic diagram which showed typically the change of a cross-sectional shape at the time of dry-etching the lithium niobate surface. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram for demonstrating the shape calculated | required by the surface fine structure which shows the outstanding low reflection characteristic. It is a cross-sectional schematic diagram for demonstrating two methods for forming a forward taper structure by dry etching.

Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a manufacturing process of an original plate (hereinafter also referred to as a low reflection structure original plate) for molding a low reflection structure according to the present invention.
First, a lithium niobate single crystal substrate 41 is prepared (FIG. 1A).
A mask for dry etching is formed on the surface of the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 41. FIG. 1 shows a case where a metal thin film pattern is used as the mask. Here, a metal thin film 42 is formed on the surface of the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 41 (FIG. 1A).

As the material of the metal thin film 42, nickel or chromium is preferable in consideration of the etching selectivity with the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 41, but other metals or a mixture thereof may be used. Further, a thin film other than a metal may be used as long as there is no problem in the implementation of this embodiment.
Moreover, as a method for forming the metal thin film 42, sputtering or vapor deposition is suitable, but other film forming methods may be used as long as there is no problem in the implementation of this embodiment.

Next, a resin thin film 43 as a resist film for forming a desired fine pattern such as a photoresist or an electron beam resist is formed on the metal thin film 42 (FIG. 1B).
Further, the resin thin film 43 is patterned to obtain a resin fine pattern 44 (FIG. 1C). The method for forming the resin fine pattern 44 is not limited to photolithography or electron beam lithography, and a mechanical technique such as nanoimprinting or hot embossing may be used. Further, a chemical method such as self-organization may be used.

A resin thin film 43 made of an optimal material may be prepared in accordance with the pattern forming method to be used.
Here, when producing a convex low reflection structure original, it is necessary to pattern so that the resin fine pattern 44 may be a dot-like pattern when viewed from above. Conversely, when making a concave original, patterning is performed so that the resin fine pattern 44 has a hole shape. The pitch of the resin fine pattern 44 is generally set to about 100 to 500 nm, which is the same as or shorter than the wavelength of visible light and easy to pattern.

  The pitch of the resin fine pattern 44 is not limited to about 100 to 500 nm, and may be set to other values. Further, the pitch of the resin fine patterns 44 may be uniform throughout or may vary to some extent. Such an average value or variation of the pitch of the resin fine pattern 44 appears as a change in the characteristic of the reflectance, and may be set according to the required characteristic and the content of the process.

Next, the metal thin film 42 is etched using the resin fine pattern 44 as a mask to obtain a metal fine pattern 45 (FIG. 1D).
The etching for obtaining the metal fine pattern 45 may be either dry etching or wet etching as long as the metal fine pattern 45 having a desired size and shape can be obtained. There is no particular limitation.

Next, the remaining resin fine pattern 44 is removed (FIG. 1E). This removal method may be a dry process using plasma or a wet process using an organic solvent. If the subsequent steps are not affected, this step may be skipped and the next step may be performed while the resin fine pattern 44 remains.
Next, the surface of the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 41 is dry-etched using the metal fine pattern 45 as a mask (FIG. 1 (f)).
As a dry etching method, for example, ICP-RIE (Inductively-Coupled-Plasma Reactive-Ion-Etching) is considered suitable, but other etching methods may be used.
As the gas introduced to generate _{plasma, CF 4, C 2 F 6} , C 4 F 8, alone gas such as fluorocarbon gas and sulfur hexafluoride CHF ₃ or the like or a mixed gas preferably, However, other gases may be used. Furthermore, oxygen, hydrogen, argon, or helium may be introduced as an additive gas.

  In this dry etching, the etching is performed under such conditions that the adjacent pattern interval of the lithium niobate fine pattern 46 formed by the etching is reduced and the metal fine pattern 45 is reduced. In order to realize such a condition and obtain a desired shape, it is necessary to adjust the type and ratio of the introduced gas, the chamber pressure during etching, the input power to the RF power source, and the like.

Eventually, the metal fine pattern 45 almost disappears, the width of the tip portion of the lithium niobate fine pattern 46 becomes almost “0”, and the adjacent pattern is in contact with the bottom surface side of the lithium niobate fine pattern 46. Etching is performed (FIG. 1 (g)).
Next, cleaning is performed to remove the metal fine pattern 45 and etching residue remaining on the etched surface (FIG. 1 (h)).

As a cleaning means, removal of the metal fine pattern 45 by a chromium etching solution mainly composed of a diammonium cerium nitrate aqueous solution, acetone, NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), or a mixture thereof may be used. Organic cleaning used, alkali cleaning using a mixed solution of ammonia water and hydrogen peroxide solution, or the like can be considered.
As the cleaning means, an appropriate means may be used according to the etching method, the type of the metal fine pattern 45, and the like.

Through the above steps, an original plate for obtaining a very low reflectivity structure by the lithium niobate fine pattern 46, which is an object of the present invention, could be produced. By using this original plate, it is possible to form a fine structure in which irregularities are reversed on a resin plate or film surface by a technique such as hot embossing, thermal nanoimprint, or UV nanoimprint.
In addition, after producing a replicated plate with irregularities reversed by transfer to nickel electroforming or UV curable resin, using this replicated plate, a technique such as hot embossing, injection molding, or nanoimprinting is used. It is also possible to form a fine structure on the film surface.

Furthermore, a secondary replication plate, a tertiary replication plate, or the like obtained by repeating the above-described duplication process several times may be used as a master for molding.
FIG. 2 shows the state of the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 31 on the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 31 when the lithium niobate single crystal substrate 31 is actually etched using a linear resist pattern made of a Cr mask as a resist mask. 2 shows an SEM image obtained by observing the resist pattern from the upper surface. FIG. 2A shows before etching, and FIG. 2B shows after etching.

The resist pattern composed of the resin fine pattern 32 and the metal fine pattern 33 in FIG. 2A has a pitch of 250 nm and a line-shaped resist pattern width of about 130 nm.
Moreover, the schematic diagram of the cross-sectional shape corresponding to each of Fig.2 (a) and (b) is shown to FIG.2 (c) and (d).

2A to 2D, it can be seen that the width of the resist pattern 34 after the etching is smaller than the pattern width of the resist pattern (32, 33) before the etching and almost disappears. On the other hand, the valley portion 35 of the lithium niobate microstructure after etching is also very narrow as shown in FIGS.
From these images, it can be seen that while the mask portion becomes thinner, the etching progresses so that the etching opening is closed, and a forward tapered side wall is formed. The shape of FIG. 2 (d) is similar to the shape shown in FIG. 3 (c). That is, it is shown that a surface structure excellent in low reflection characteristics can be formed by using this etching condition.

However, in order to obtain a structure having excellent low reflection characteristics, it is necessary to form not a one-dimensional linear pattern as shown in FIG. 2 but a dot or hole-shaped two-dimensional pattern. This can be easily achieved by making the etching mask into a dot or hole shape.
When dry etching of lithium niobate with plasma using a fluorine-based gas, the vapor pressure of the generated lithium fluoride is low, so the product lithium fluoride is less than in the case of dry etching of silicon described above. It becomes easy to reattach by the side wall. Therefore, compared with the case of silicon, it becomes easy to thicken the pattern by adopting the process as shown in FIG. 4B, and as a result, a more gentle side wall is formed on the bottom side of adjacent protrusions. It is also easy to manufacture a structure that makes contact.

  Further, during the dry etching, the metal fine pattern 33 such as Cr is also etched at a certain rate, the thickness is reduced and the lateral direction is also reduced. As a result, the upper surface side of the opening is etched so as to increase in width. Due to these two effects, as shown in FIGS. 2B and 2D, a shape close to the shape shown in FIG. 3C and excellent in low reflection characteristics can be obtained.

  According to the experiments by the inventors, when lithium niobate was used, the side wall angle could be set to a moderate value such as 45 to 60 °. As described above, this is a value that is difficult to realize by dry etching of silicon, and is a clear advantage compared to the case of using dry etching of silicon. In addition, as described above, the structure having a gentle side wall angle is also advantageous in transferring a pattern. For this reason, in terms of shape and material, it becomes possible to manufacture a low reflection structure that could not be manufactured so far.

  Further, as described above, in the case of dry etching of silicon, in order to obtain a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 2D, the resist width of the etching mask needs to be as narrow as 50 to 80 nm. There was a problem that became difficult. On the other hand, when the lithium niobate substrate 31 is etched with a metal fine pattern 33 such as a chrome mask, as shown in FIG. 2A, resist patterns (32, 33) formed by the first electron beam lithography. The width may be about 110 to 130 nm.

Since there is no need to make the resist width extremely narrow in this way, there is an advantage that lithography becomes easy, but there is a margin in setting the lithography conditions, so that it is possible to eliminate factors that reduce the yield of the manufacturing process. There are also benefits.
The lithium niobate substrate having the fine structure formed on the surface in this way exhibits excellent low reflection characteristics, so it can be used as a member as it is or a mold for transferring a pattern by embossing. It may be used as As such a transfer method, methods such as nanoimprinting, hot embossing, and UV replication can be considered. Here, these methods are collectively referred to as nanoimprinting.

  Further, unlike silicon, lithium niobate is a transparent substrate and transmits light, so that it can be used as a mold for UV nanoimprint. Compared to quartz, which is often used as a substrate material for molds for UV nanoimprint, the transmittance of ultraviolet light with a wavelength of 300 to 400 nm is reduced by about 30 to 40%, but there is a transmittance of 60% or more, so UV nanoimprint It can be used sufficiently as a mold.

  As described above, dry etching of a quartz substrate is very easy to etch into a shape as shown in FIG. 2D where the side wall angle is almost perpendicular to that of a silicon substrate and the bottom surface of the etching is closed. Have difficulty. Therefore, it can be said that a mold using a lithium niobate substrate is particularly useful as a UV nanoimprint mold having a shape as shown in FIG.

EXAMPLES Hereinafter, although an Example demonstrates this invention further more concretely, this invention is not limited to this example.
First, a chromium film (42) having a thickness of 100 nm was formed on the upper surface of a lithium niobate single crystal substrate (41) having a diameter of 100 mm and a thickness of 500 μm (FIG. 1A).
Next, a chemically amplified electron beam positive resist was applied on the formed chromium film with a spin coater to form a resist layer (43) having a thickness of 200 nm (FIG. 1B).

  Next, an orthogonal lattice pattern having a pitch of 250 nm and a line width of 125 nm was drawn on almost the entire surface of the substrate by electron beam drawing. Furthermore, after performing PEB (Post Exposure Bake, post-exposure bake) at 85 ° C. for 5 minutes, development is performed using a 2.38% aqueous solution of TMAH (Tetra-Methyl-Ammonium-Hydroxid) to obtain a dot having a width of 125 nm. A resin fine pattern (44) of the pattern was obtained (FIG. 1 (c)).

Next, the chromium film was etched by ICP-RIE using a mixed gas plasma of chlorine and oxygen using the resin fine pattern 44 as an etching mask. Thus, a fine chromium pattern (45) having a dot pattern with a width of 125 nm was obtained (FIGS. 1D and 1E).
Next, the surface of the lithium niobate substrate was etched by ICP-RIE using a mixed gas plasma mainly composed of fluorocarbon using the fine chromium pattern as an etching mask. At that time, etching was carried out to a depth of about 200 nm with the introduced gas flow rates of C ₄ F ₈ : 50 sccm and Ar: 50 sccm, the process pressure of 5 mTorr, the ICP RF Power of 800 W, and the Bias RF Power of 100 W, respectively.

  Then, the opening narrows during etching, and the chrome mask recedes to form a forward tapered side wall, and when the chrome mask is finally completely removed, there is no flat part at the tip. A fine structure having a shape excellent in low reflection characteristics in which conical or shell-like projections were spread with almost no gap between the bottom surfaces was obtained (FIGS. 1 (f) and (g)).

Next, removal of the residual chromium component with a mixed aqueous solution of diammonium cerium nitrate and nitric acid, organic cleaning using NMP (N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone), MEA (monoethanolamine), etc., further aqueous ammonia and hydrogen peroxide Alkali cleaning using a mixed solution of water or the like was performed to clean the lithium niobate substrate having the microstructure formed on the surface.
As a result, it was possible to obtain a structure in which the tips of the fine structures are almost zero and the fine structures are in contact with each other on the bottom side (FIG. 1 (h)).

11, 21 Substrate 12, 13, 14 Fine structure pattern 23, 25 Forward taper structure 31, 41 Lithium niobate single crystal substrate 32, 44 Resin fine pattern 33, 34, 45 Metal fine pattern (chrome pattern)
35 Valley portion of lithium niobate fine pattern 42 Metal thin film 43 Resin thin film (resist film)
46 Fine pattern of lithium niobate

Claims (5)

By providing a fine structure on the surface, a method for producing an original plate for molding a low reflection structure that reduces the reflectance of light on the surface,
A method for producing an original plate, wherein a lithium niobate single crystal substrate is used as the substrate material of the original plate. It is a manufacturing method of the original plate according to claim 1,
A method for producing an original plate, wherein a fine structure having low reflection characteristics for forming the low reflection structure is formed on the surface of the lithium niobate single crystal by dry etching. It is a manufacturing method of the original plate according to claim 2,
As the fine structure, a plurality of convex portions having the same shape are formed adjacent to each other, and the side wall shape of the convex portion is formed in a forward tapered shape. Further, in the horizontal cross section of the fine structure, at the upper end position of the convex portion The method for producing an original plate, wherein the ratio occupied by the convex portions and the ratio occupied by non-convex portions at the bottom surface position of the convex portions are both zero. A method for producing an original plate according to claim 2 or claim 3,
A method for producing an original plate, wherein a fluorocarbon-based gas is used as an introduction gas for the dry etching, and a reaction product having a low vapor pressure is generated by a reaction with the lithium niobate single crystal.   An original plate produced using the method for producing an original plate according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

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