JP2019126954A - Mold release processing method and imprint apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a mold release processing method capable of carrying out a mold release process simply and stably.SOLUTION: A mold release processing method is a mold release processing method in which a mold release film is formed on a surface of an imprint mold, a mold release agent containing a volatile component is applied to a surface of a coating roll, and the mold release agent is applied to a surface of the mold by scanning the coating roll while bringing the surface of the coating roll into contact with the surface of the mold. By heating the mold release agent applied to the surface of the mold, the volatile component are volatilized to form a release film on the surface of the mold.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a mold release processing method and an imprint apparatus for use in imprinting.

  In recent years, in optical components used in products such as displays and lighting, the reflection and diffraction of light are controlled by forming fine patterns of nanometer (nm) order to micron (μm) order that exhibit special optical characteristics. It is desirable to realize a device that has developed a new function that has not existed in the past.

  A nanoimprint technique is used as a method of manufacturing an optical component having a minute shape. In the nanoimprint technology, a mold is pressed against a resin applied to a surface of a substrate using a mold in which the designed fine shape is previously processed on the surface, thereby transferring the fine shape onto the resin surface. It is a method of forming. As a transfer method, a thermosetting resin is used as a resin to be applied to the surface of the substrate, and a heat imprint method in which transfer is performed while heating at the time of transfer. There is a UV imprint method to The thermal imprint method has the feature that the material selectivity is wide, but the problem is that the transfer rate to the mold does not increase due to the high viscosity of the material and the throughput does not increase because it takes time to raise and lower the temperature. is there. On the other hand, the UV imprint method has the problem of material selectivity but generally has a high transfer rate to the mold because of the low viscosity of the material, and has a feature of high throughput because it cures by irradiating ultraviolet light. doing. Although which of the thermal imprinting method and the UV imprinting method is adopted depends on the applied device, it is considered that the UV imprinting method is suitable as a mass production method if there is no problem due to the material.

  In nanoimprinting, when the imprinting is repeated, the mold release agent on the surface of the mold is peeled off. Therefore, in the nanoimprint manufacturing process, it is necessary to perform a mold release treatment every predetermined number of times. Patent Document 1 discloses a mold release processing method for a nanoimprint. In Patent Document 1, when a mold release treatment substrate coated with a mold release agent is brought into contact with a mold having adsorbed water adhered to the surface, the mold release agent is diffused in the adsorbed water, and is separated over the entire surface of the mold. A mold layer is formed. Thus, the release layer can be easily formed on the surface of the mold, so that the release process can be easily performed even in the nanoimprint apparatus.

JP 2013-39757 A

  However, in the above-mentioned prior art, since the release agent is dispersed in the adsorbed water to form the release layer, there is a problem that the thickness of the layer is uneven due to the evaporation of the adsorbed water.

  Then, an object of this invention is to provide the mold release processing method and imprint apparatus which make it possible to implement a mold release process simply and stably.

  In order to achieve the above object, a release processing method according to an aspect of the present invention is a release processing method for forming a release film on the surface of an imprint mold, and a volatile component on the surface of a coating roll. The mold release agent is applied to the surface of the mold by scanning the coating roll while contacting the surface of the coating roll with the surface of the mold, and applying the mold release agent to the surface of the mold The volatile component is volatilized by heating the release agent thus formed to form the release agent on the surface of the mold.

  In addition, an imprint apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention performs imprinting using a mold release processing unit that implements the above mold release processing method, and the mold that has been mold release processed by the mold release processing unit. A molding unit, and the release processing unit includes a pretreatment unit that applies the release agent containing the volatile component to the surface of the application roll, and a surface of the application roll on which the release agent is applied. By heating the coating agent applied to the surface of the mold by scanning the coating roll while bringing the coating roll into contact with the surface of the mold, and heating the mold release agent applied to the surface of the mold. And a release film forming portion for volatilizing the volatile component to form the release film on the surface of the mold.

  According to the mold release processing method and the imprint apparatus of the present invention, the mold release processing can be carried out simply and stably.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the configuration and operation of the imprint apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration and the operation of the imprint apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the conventional mold release processing method described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of the UV nanoimprinting method.

(Findings that led to the present invention)
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining the conventional mold release processing method described in Patent Document 1. As shown in FIG. In Patent Document 1, in FIG. 3, only the upper part of the convex portion of the mold 312 having adsorbed water 32 attached to the surface of the release treatment substrate 35 coated with the release agent is brought into contact with the release agent 36. The release agent 36 diffuses in the adsorbed water 32 to form a release layer on the surface of the mold 312. By implementing this method in the nanoimprint apparatus, it is possible to simplify the mold release process.

  However, in the prior art described in Patent Document 1, since it is necessary to uniformly apply a mold release agent to the substrate 35 for mold release treatment and a thin and uniform adsorption water 32 on the surface of the mold 312, When processing is performed, there is a problem that the film thickness varies due to volatilization of the release agent 36 and water, and the thickness of the formed release layer varies. In addition, since it is necessary to contact only the convex portion of the mold surface uneven pattern with the release agent, the mechanism for contacting the mold with the mold release processing substrate requires a very high degree of parallelism, which increases the equipment cost. Problem of becoming

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the flow of the UV nanoimprinting method. As shown in FIG. 4 (a), a mold 41 having a predetermined shape to be formed is produced, and then, as shown in FIG. 4 (b), the UV curable resin 43 previously applied on the substrate 42 is produced. On the other hand, a mold having a fine shape is pressed, and a UV curable resin is filled in the fine shape on the mold, and UV light 44 is irradiated in a state where the mold is pressed as shown in FIG. After curing of the cured resin, as shown in (d) of FIG. 4, the mold is released from the substrate to transfer and mold the fine shape on the substrate surface. Since it is necessary to irradiate UV light to the UV curing resin, generally, the mold is made of a material that transmits UV light such as quartz, and the method of irradiating UV light from the mold side and UV light transmitted to the substrate Any method of irradiating UV light from the substrate side using a material to be used is used.

  Generally as a molding method, as shown in FIG. 4, a flat mold is pressed parallel to a substrate coated with resin and then UV light is irradiated to release the mold upward. Thus, a resin pattern in which the shape of the mold is transferred can be formed on the substrate.

  At this time, in order to improve the mold releasability between the mold and the resin, a mold release film in which a mold release agent is bonded in advance is usually formed on the surface of the mold. Since this release film is gradually peeled off from the mold surface when molding is repeated, it is necessary to form a release film on the mold surface again after a certain number of moldings in order to perform stable molding.

  As a mold release treatment method, the mold is usually thoroughly washed in advance, and then the mold is immersed in a liquid tank containing a release agent, and then slowly lifted to volatilize the liquid attached to the surface. Thereafter, the mold release process is completed by placing it in a high-temperature and high-humidity furnace at 60 ° C. and about 90% and leaving it for about 1 hour.

  In order to perform the mold release process as described above, it is necessary to once remove the mold from the molding apparatus and perform the process by another apparatus, which causes a problem that the operation time of the molding apparatus is significantly reduced. In order to realize stable molding, it is necessary that a mold release film is firmly formed on the mold surface, and it is ideal to perform the mold release process for each molding. In order to ensure, it is desirable to increase the number of moldings until the mold release process is performed as much as possible. Therefore, there is a problem that the risk of occurrence of mold release defects increases in the actual molding process.

  In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, the present invention provides a mold release processing method and an imprint apparatus that can perform a mold release process quickly and stably.

  The outline of one aspect of the present invention is as follows.

  A mold release processing method according to an aspect of the present invention is a mold release processing method for forming a release film on the surface of an imprint mold, and a release agent containing a volatile component is applied to the surface of an application roll. The mold release agent is applied to the surface of the mold by scanning the application roll while bringing the surface of the application roll into contact with the surface of the mold mounted on the imprint apparatus. The volatile component is volatilized by heating the applied release agent to form the release film on the surface of the mold.

  By this, it is possible to easily and stably form a uniform release film.

  For example, in the mold release treatment method according to one aspect of the present invention, the surface of the coating roll may be made of a porous elastomer. At this time, the porous elastomer may be made of rubber or silicone resin.

  Thereby, the release agent can be held in the porous state, and evaporation of the solvent of the release agent can be reduced. In addition, since the mold release agent is held in the porous state, a certain amount of the mold release agent can be applied from the coating roll to the mold. Thereby, a homogeneous release film can be formed.

  For example, in the mold release treatment method according to one aspect of the present invention, the mold release agent may be heated by irradiating the surface of the mold with near infrared rays.

  Thereby, since the solvent of the mold release agent can be volatilized simply and rapidly, the homogeneous mold release film can be formed simply and rapidly.

  For example, in the mold release processing method according to an aspect of the present invention, before the mold release agent is applied to the surface of the mold, the surface of the mold is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to decompose the substance attached to the surface of the mold. It may be removed.

  Thus, before applying the release agent on the surface of the mold by pressing the surface of the application roll coated with the release agent on the surface of the mold, the surface of the mold is irradiated with ultraviolet rays. It is possible to decompose and remove organic matter such as dust that has adhered. Thereby, the wettability of the surface of the mold to the release agent can be improved. Therefore, the time for which the release agent is held on the surface of the mold is extended, and the number of reapplications of the release agent to the coating roll can be reduced.

  Moreover, the imprint apparatus which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention uses the mold by which the mold release process part which implements one of said mold release processing methods, and the mold release process by the said mold release process part was performed. A forming unit for performing imprinting, the release processing unit including a pretreatment unit applying the release agent containing the volatile component on the surface of the coating roll, and the release agent applied An application part for applying the release agent to the surface of the mold by scanning the application roll while bringing the surface of the application roll into contact with the surface of the mold, and the release agent applied to the surface of the mold And a release film forming portion for volatilizing the volatile component to form the release film on the surface of the mold.

  Thereby, the release process can be performed in a short time in the same apparatus, and the productivity of in-mold improves.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  The embodiments described below are all inclusive or specific examples. Numerical values, shapes, materials, components, arrangement positions and connection forms of components, steps, order of steps, and the like shown in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the claims. Further, among the components in the following embodiments, components not described in the independent claim indicating the highest concept are described as arbitrary components.

  Moreover, each figure is not necessarily illustrated exactly. In the drawings, substantially the same components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description will be omitted or simplified.

Embodiment 1
[Imprinting device]
An imprint apparatus according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an imprint apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment. The imprint apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment performs imprint by, for example, a UV imprint method.

  As shown in FIG. 1, an imprint apparatus 100 includes a release processing unit 101 that performs a release film processing method for forming a release film 1 on the surface of an imprint mold 11 a, and a release processing unit 101. And a forming unit 102 for performing imprinting using the mold 11a subjected to the release treatment.

  In the present embodiment, the mold 11a is a resin mold. More specifically, the mold 11a is a film-like resin mold. The mold 11a includes, for example, a UV curable resin layer in which a desired fine pattern is formed on the surface of a base film capable of transmitting UV light such as a PET film. The mold 11a is formed by pressing a pattern forming surface of a master mold on which a reverse pattern of a desired fine pattern is formed on the UV curable resin layer of the mold 11a and irradiating UV light from the master mold side.

  In the present embodiment, an example using the UV imprint method is shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an optical imprint method using light of a wavelength other than UV light may be used. The mold 11a may have high transparency in order to complete the photocuring reaction more efficiently. For example, the mold 11a may have a light transmittance of 80% or more.

  Hereinafter, the mold release processing unit 101 will be described. The release processing unit 101 includes a pretreatment unit 21, an application unit 23, and a release film forming unit 19. In the mold release processing unit 101, the mold release film 1 is formed on the surface of the mold 11a.

  In the pre-processing part 21, the preparation which apply | coats the mold release agent 10 to the surface of the resin mold 11a is performed. More specifically, in the pretreatment unit 21, the release agent 10 is applied to the surface of the application roll 20 that applies the release agent to the surface of the resin mold 11a. In the present embodiment, the preprocessing unit 21 is, for example, a die coater 21.

  The release agent 10 reduces the surface energy of the interface between the mold 11 a and the resin receiving layer to be imprinted, that is, the surface of the mold releasing surface, and the mold 11 a and the resin receiving layer are separated at the mold releasing surface. It is a component that makes it easy to mold. In the present embodiment, the release agent 10 contains a volatile component. As such a mold release agent 10, a fluorine compound, a silicone compound, etc. are mentioned, for example. The silicone compound is a compound having a silicone structure in the molecule, and examples thereof include silicone emulsion, alkyl graft silicone, silicone graft acrylic, amino-modified silicone, perfluoroalkyl-modified silicone, alkyl-modified silicone and the like.

  In the application part 23, the mold release agent 10 is applied to the mold 11a. More specifically, in the application unit 23, the surface of the mold 11a is scanned with the application roll 20 while the surface of the application roll 20 to which the mold release agent 10 is applied is in contact with the surface of the mold 11a. Apply. In the present embodiment, the coating unit 23 includes the coating roll 20 and the backup roll 22. As shown in FIG. 1, in the application unit 23, the mold 11 a is sandwiched between the application roll 20 to which the release agent 10 is applied and the backup roll 22, and the application roll 20 and the backup roll 22 are in the direction of the arrow. The mold release agent 10 is applied to the mold 11a while rotating. At this time, both ends of the mold 11 a are fixed by the fixing jig 17.

  The surface of the coating roll 20 is composed of a porous elastomer. The porous elastomer is, for example, an elastic material having a large number of pores on the surface and inside. Specifically, the porous elastomer may be composed of rubber or silicone resin. As described above, when the surface of the coating roll 20 is made of the porous elastomer, the release agent 10 is held in the porous state, so that the evaporation of the solvent of the release agent 10 can be reduced. . Moreover, since the surface of the coating roll 20 has elasticity, the surface of the coating roll 20 contacts the fine pattern of the mold 11a relatively flexibly. Thereby, it becomes easy to apply the release agent 10 uniformly to the fine pattern of the mold 11a.

  As the material of the application roll 20, porous rubber is used when the material of the imprint mold 11a is easily damaged such as resin, and silicone is used when the mold 11a is a material with high hardness such as metal or quartz. By using a resin, it is possible to perform a mold release process for various molds.

  In the release film forming unit 19, the release agent 10 applied to the surface of the mold 11a is heated to volatilize the volatile components, thereby forming the release film 1 on the surface of the mold 11a. Specifically, the mold release agent 10 is heated by irradiating the surface of the mold 11 a with near infrared radiation. In the present embodiment, the release film forming unit 19 is, for example, a near-infrared emitter 19. The near-infrared emitter 19 may be, for example, a near-infrared laser, or a near-infrared line heater. When the near-infrared emitter 19 is a laser, the near-infrared emitter 19 can quickly heat the release agent 10 applied on the mold 11a. Further, when the near-infrared emitter 19 is a line heater, the near-infrared emitter 19 can irradiate near-infrared rays over a wider area of the mold 11a as compared with a laser. Therefore, a release agent applied on the mold 11a. 10 can be efficiently heated.

  As described above, as a method of heating the surface of the mold 11a, a predetermined amount of heat can be given to the releasing agent 10 applied to the surface of the mold 11a by using a near-infrared lamp or the like. At this time, using a line-shaped heater (line heater), it becomes possible to immediately heat the portion where the release agent 10 is applied by the application roll 20 without applying time after application, and locally. By heating the mold to which the release agent 10 is applied, the heating time and the cooling time are shortened, and the release film 1 can be fixed on the surface of the mold 11a in a short time.

  The respective parts of the release processing unit 101 have been described above in detail, but the arrangement and operation of each part of the release processing unit 101 will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the mold release processing unit 101, the coating roll 20 and the die coater 21 are disposed below the mold 11a. In this example, the mold 11a has a fine pattern on the lower surface of the paper. Furthermore, the die coater 21 is disposed below the coating roll 20 and applies the release agent 10 to the surface of the coating roll 20.

  In addition, in the mold release processing unit 101, the backup roll 22 is disposed above the mold 11a. The backup roll 22 is disposed at a position facing the application roll 20 so that the mold 11 a is sandwiched between the backup roll 22 and the application roll 20. The application roll 20 and the backup roll 22 are respectively attached to two axes movable vertically and horizontally with respect to the mold 11a. Therefore, the coating roll 20 and the backup roll 22 can be scanned in a horizontal arrow direction while rotating against each other with a predetermined force against the mold 11a and rotating. Thereby, the mold release agent 10 can be apply | coated uniformly and stably on the fine pattern of the mold 11a.

  On the opposite side of the coating roll 20 in the scanning direction, a near infrared ray emitter 19 (here, a near infrared ray line heater 19) is mounted on an axis movable in the horizontal direction. Thereby, since the near-infrared line heater 19 can move in the horizontal direction while heating the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a, the entire surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a can be uniformly heated.

  The mold 11 a is subjected to the mold release processing by the mold release processing unit 101, and then moved to the molding unit 102 while both ends thereof are held by the fixing jig 17.

  Subsequently, the molding unit 102 which is juxtaposed to the mold release processing unit 101 and performs imprinting will be described. The molding unit 102 performs imprinting using the mold 11 a that has been subjected to the mold release processing by the mold release processing unit 101.

  The forming unit 102 includes a support base 16, a pressing roll 13, an angle adjusting roll 18, and an ultraviolet emitter 14.

  The support stand 16 is a stand for supporting the transferred resin layer 12 when the transferred resin layer 12 is in-molded. The transferred resin layer 12 is formed on one surface of the substrate 15. In addition, as above-mentioned in the mold release process part 101, the to-be-transferred resin layer 12 is a UV curable resin layer, for example. At this time, the transferred resin layer 12 is formed by applying an uncured UV curable resin on the upper surface of the substrate 15. Thus, the substrate 15 is fixed in advance on the support 16 on which the UV curable resin layer 12 is formed on the surface.

  The support base 16 is attached to a drive shaft that can be driven horizontally in the imprint apparatus 100 independently of the vertical drive shaft of the pressure roll 20. Thus, the substrate 15 fixed on the support table 16 and the mold 11 pressed by the pressure roll 20 can be moved in the horizontal direction.

  The pressing roll 13 presses the surface on the side opposite to the surface on which the fine pattern of the mold 11 a is formed, and brings the fine pattern on which the mold 11 a is formed into contact with the transferred resin layer 12. The pressure roll 13 is disposed above the mold 11 a and attached to a shaft that can be driven in the vertical direction with respect to the support 16. Since the pressing roll 13 can move downward in the vertical direction with a predetermined pressure, the pressing roll 13 can press the mold 11 a vertically against the transferred resin layer 12.

  The angle adjustment roll 18 can be driven in the direction perpendicular to the substrate 15 and in the horizontal direction. By adjusting the position of the angle adjusting roll 18 vertically and horizontally, the position of the mold 11a can be fixed so that a predetermined tension is generated in the mold 11a. At this time, one end of the mold 11 a is fixed to the support 16 by the fixing jig 17, and the other end is lifted upward by the angle adjustment roll 18. Therefore, the angle at which the other end of the mold 11a is fixed, that is, the angle at which the mold 11a is fixed, can be adjusted to an arbitrary angle by adjusting the position of the angle adjusting roll 18 vertically and horizontally.

  The ultraviolet emitter 14 irradiates the transferred resin layer 12 with ultraviolet rays in a state where the fine pattern of the mold 11 a is pressed against the transferred resin 12 by the pressing roll 20. It is installed in the rear with respect to the advancing direction of the pressure roll 13. The ultraviolet light emitted from the ultraviolet light emitter 14 passes through the mold 11 a and reaches the surface of the substrate 15. Thereby, the transferred resin layer 12 is cured, and the fine pattern of the mold 11 a can be transferred and fixed to the transferred resin layer 12.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the mold release process can be performed easily and stably by having the above-described configuration.

[Release method and transfer molding method]
Next, the mold release processing method and the fine pattern transfer molding method in the imprint apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail with specific examples. Specifically, the mold release processing of the mold 11a in the mold release processing unit 101 was performed as follows.

As the mold 11a, a resin mold having a fine pattern in which a lattice pattern having a vertical pitch of 100 μm, a horizontal pitch of 100 μm, and a height of 10 μm is formed in a size of 200 mm square on the surface of the mold 11a is used. As shown in FIG. 1, the application roll 20 and the backup roll 22 face each other at the start end of the mold 11 a (both left ends of the mold 11 a shown in FIG. 1) fixed at both ends by the fixing jig 17. The positions of 20 and backup roll 22 were adjusted. Thereafter, the coating roll 20 and the backup roll 22 were pressed against the mold 11 a, and the mold 11 a was sandwiched between the coating roll 20 and the backup roll 22. Thereafter, the coating roll 20 and the backup roll 22 were scanned in the direction of the arrow along the surface of the mold 11 a while applying the release agent 10 to the surface of the coating roll 20 with the die coater 21. Thereby, the mold release agent 10 apply | coated on the application | coating roll 20 can be apply | coated to the surface of the mold 11a.

  A porous rubber was used as the material of the application roll 20, and the release agent 10 used was a low viscosity one having a viscosity of about 5 cp. The coating roll 20 coated with the mold release agent 10 was scanned along the surface of the mold 11a at a speed of 5 mm / sec while pressing the mold 11a with a force of 10N. Thereby, the mold release agent 10 can be apply | coated uniformly and stably on the whole surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a.

  As the mold release agent 10, Optool DSX manufactured by Daikin Industries, Ltd. or Durasurf manufactured by Herbes, Inc., which is a solvent of a fluorine compound, was used.

  Since the above releasing agent 10 contains perfluorohexane, the solvent component (hereinafter referred to as a solvent) is volatilized when it is left in the air, and the concentration of the fluorine compound in the releasing agent 10 is increased. Therefore, there arises a problem that the applied release agent 10 becomes cloudy. Therefore, by using a porous rubber having a hardness of A10 ° to A30 ° such as polyvinyl chloride or polyurethane having water absorption for the coating roll 20, the release agent 10 can be easily held in the porous porous rubber. Thus, the volatilization of the solvent (here, water) of the release agent 10 can be reduced. In addition, since the release agent 10 is held in the porous porous rubber, a sufficient amount of the release agent 10 for application can be held on the surface of the application roll 20. As a result, when the mold release agent 10 is applied to the mold 11a, when a coating roll 20 is pressed with a predetermined pressure and brought into contact with the surface of the mold 11a, a predetermined amount of the mold release agent 10 is applied to the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a. Can be applied to In this way, by uniformly and stably applying the release agent 10 to the surface of the mold 11a, the applied release agent 10 is dehydrated, so that the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a is uniform. A release film 1 is formed. That is, stable transfer (so-called film formation) of the release agent 10 to the mold 11a becomes possible. However, when foreign matter from the porous rubber becomes a problem, silicone rubber may be used although its water absorption performance is inferior to that of the porous rubber.

  Hereinafter, the film formation will be described more specifically. After the release agent 10 was applied to the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a by the application roll 20, the near-infrared emitter 19 (here, the near-infrared line heater 19) was positioned at the start end of the mold 11a. Next, the entire surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a is heated by scanning the near infrared line heater 19 along the surface of the mold 11a at an output of 10 W at a speed of 1 mm / sec. As a result, the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a It was possible to form a uniform mold release film 1.

  The release agent 10 applied to the surface of the mold 11a is heated to evaporate the moisture, whereby the release film 1 is formed on the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a. Therefore, the heating of the surface of the mold 11a by the near-infrared line heater 19 may be performed by setting the scanning speed so that the solvent (here, water) of the release agent 10 is sufficiently volatilized.

  In the present embodiment, the near-infrared line heater is used for heating the mold 11a. However, when it is desired to process at a higher speed or when it is desired to release only a specific portion of the mold 11a, You may heat using the laser which can narrow down an irradiation diameter.

  In the mold release processing method in the imprint apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, before the mold release agent 10 is applied to the surface of the mold 11a, the surface of the mold 11a is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to adhere to the surface of the mold 11a. The removed material may be decomposed and removed. In order to enhance the adhesion of the mold release film 1 to the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a, it is important that no foreign substance such as dust adheres to the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a. Therefore, before the mold release agent 10 is applied to the surface of the mold 11a by the application roll 20, the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a is irradiated with ultraviolet light, whereby foreign matter etc. adhering to the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a The organic matter can be decomposed and removed. Thereby, the adhesiveness with respect to the mold 11a of the release film 1 can be improved. Moreover, since the wettability of the surface of the mold 11a can be improved, the life of the release film 1 can be improved.

  In addition, as an irradiation method of an ultraviolet-ray, you may use a deep ultraviolet lamp unit of a short wavelength.

  Subsequently, transfer molding of the fine pattern onto the transferred resin 12 in the molding unit 102 was performed as follows.

  The mold 11 a that has been subjected to the mold release treatment by the above-described mold release processing method is moved from the mold release processing unit 101 to the molding unit 102 while being fixed by the fixing jig 17. Then, by adjusting the angle adjusting roll 18, the angle of the mold 11a is inclined by 15 ° with respect to the horizontal direction, and the position of the mold 11a is fixed so that a tension of 10 kgf is generated in the mold 11a. At this time, both ends of the mold 11 a are fixed by the fixing jig 17. Specifically, one end of the mold 11 a is fixed to the support base 16 by the fixing jig 17, and the other end is perpendicular to the substrate 15 in the molding unit 101 of the imprint apparatus 100. The mold 11a can be tensioned as desired by being lifted upward by the drivable angle adjustment roll 18. The angle at which the other end of the mold 11a is fixed, that is, the angle at which the mold 11a is fixed, can be adjusted to an arbitrary angle by changing the position of the angle adjusting roll 18 vertically and horizontally.

  An ultraviolet ray line sensor with a wavelength of 365 nm, an output of 30 mW and a width of 300 mm was used as the ultraviolet light emitter 14.

  As the substrate 15, a glass substrate having a width of 210 mm, a length of 300 mm, and a thickness of 0.7 mm was used. First, a UV curable resin was applied by spin coating on one surface of the substrate 15 to a thickness of 10 μm to form a UV curable resin layer 12. Thereafter, the substrate 15 having the UV curable resin layer 12 (hereinafter simply referred to as “substrate 15”) was fixed on the support base 16.

  With the substrate 15 fixed on the support table 16 and the mold 11a fixed to the molding unit 101 of the imprint apparatus 100, the support table 16 was moved in the horizontal direction. Thereby, it adjusted so that the press roll 13 might be arrange | positioned above the starting end part (here left end part of the board | substrate 15 shown in FIG. 1) of the board | substrate 15. FIG. After adjusting the position of the pressing roll 13 to the starting end of the substrate 15, a pressure of 100 N was applied to the pressing roll 13 and lowered. Then, the end of the mold 11 a (here, the end fixed to the support 16 by the fixing jig 17) was brought into contact with the substrate 15.

  Next, in a state where a predetermined pressure is applied to the pressure roll 13, the ultraviolet light emitter 14 irradiates the ultraviolet light with an output of 30 mW, and irradiates the UV light backward in the scanning direction of the pressure roll 13, while supporting the support 16. It was moved at a speed of 10 mm / sec. At this time, the position of the angle adjusting roll 18 is lowered downward in synchronization with the movement of the support base 16, and the fine pattern of the mold 11 a is kept at an angle of about 15 ° with respect to the substrate 15. The substrate 15 was sequentially contacted. At the same time, UV rays are emitted after the pressure roll 13 is scanned to the terminal end portion of the substrate 15 (here, the right end portion of the substrate 15 shown in FIG. 1) while irradiating UV light to the place where the pressure roll 13 passes over the substrate 15. Container 14 was turned off. Thereafter, the pressing roll 13 is scanned at a speed of 50 mm / sec up to the starting end of the substrate 15 while keeping the angle between the mold 11a and the substrate 15 at 15 ° in the direction opposite to the transfer direction, and the mold 11a is released from the substrate 15. As a result, the fine pattern was transferred and formed on the surface of the substrate 15.

  When the transfer molding operation is repeated about 500 times, the parting film 1 on the surface of the mold 11a is gradually peeled off from the surface of the mold 11a. As a result, the mold release resistance at the interface between the cured UV curable resin layer 12 and the mold 11a is increased. When the mold release resistance increases, a problem arises in that the cured UV curable resin layer 12 is peeled off from the substrate 15 at the time of mold release. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the process of forming the release film 1 again on the surface of the mold 11a.

  Therefore, when the transfer molding operation is completed 500 times, the mold 11a fixed by the fixing jig 17 is moved from the molding unit 102 to the release processing unit 101.

  After the mold 11a was moved from the molding unit 102 to the release processing unit 101, the release film 1 was formed again on the surface of the fine pattern of the mold 11a by the above-described release processing method, and used for transfer molding.

  Therefore, according to the mold release processing method and the imprint apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, by pressing the roll coated with the mold release agent against the mold surface and scanning it, the mold surface is thin and uniform. The film (release film 1) can be formed without scattering the release agent 10 to the surroundings, and immediately after the release agent 10 is applied, the mold 11a is heated to release the release agent 10. By evaporating the volatile component, it becomes possible to form the release film 1 on the surface of the mold 11a in a short time.

  As described above, according to the release processing method according to the present embodiment, the release film 1 can be formed on the surface of the mold 11a simply and stably. Further, according to the mold release treatment method in accordance with the present embodiment, the uniform mold release film 1 can be stably formed on the surface of the mold 11 a, so that the durability of the mold release film 1 is improved.

Second Embodiment
Next, the imprint apparatus according to Embodiment 2 will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the configuration and operation of the imprint apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment. The imprint apparatus 200 performs Roll to Roll imprint. In FIG. 2, the same components as those in FIG.

  In the first embodiment, the mold release processing method and the imprint apparatus for improving the mold releasability of the mold 11a with respect to the transferred resin layer 12 formed on the flat substrate 15 have been described. The mold release treatment method in the above-mentioned Embodiment 1 may be applied to the resin base material 25 transported by the Roll to Roll method. The differences from Embodiment 1 will be described below.

[Imprinting device]
In the imprint apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, the mold release processing unit 101 and the molding unit 102 are independently arranged in one apparatus, but the imprint apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment is The mold release processing unit 201 and the molding unit 202 are connected and disposed in one device.

  In the present embodiment, the mold 11b is a roll mold. The roll mold is made of, for example, a material that does not transmit light, such as a nickel electroforming mold.

  In the imprint apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment, a fine pattern is formed on the surface of the film-like resin base material 25 which is coated with the UV curable resin 12 on the surface of the resin base material 25 and conveyed by Roll to Roll. Further, the surface of the roll mold 11b is brought into contact with the nip roll 26 and the fine pattern is filled with the UV curable resin. At this time, the UV curing resin is cured by irradiating the filled UV curing resin from below with UV light from the UV light emitter 14. Thereafter, the micropattern can be transferred and formed on the resin substrate 25 by releasing the cured UV curable resin layer 12 from the mold 11 b.

  In the upper part where the roll mold 11b is not in contact with the resin base material 25, the application roll 20 and the die coat 21 are disposed. The application roll 20 comes into contact with the roll mold 11b with a predetermined force, and the roll mold 11b. Rotate according to the rotation.

  A near-infrared emitter 19 (here, a near-infrared heater 19) is installed at a position behind the coating roll 20 with respect to the rotation direction of the roll mold 11b to heat the surface of the roll mold 11b. can do.

  In the present embodiment, by having the above-described configuration, it is possible to continuously carry out release processing on the roll mold 11 b and transfer and formation of a fine pattern on the transferred resin layer 12.

[Release method and transfer molding method]
Next, a mold release processing method and a fine pattern transfer molding method in the imprint apparatus 200 according to the present embodiment will be described. Specifically, the micropattern is transferred to the UV curable resin layer 12 on the resin substrate 25 in the molding unit 202, and the mold is released by the nip roll 26. Thereafter, the release agent 10 is applied by the application roll 20 to the surface portion of the roll mold 11 b not in contact with the resin base 25 of the roll mold 11 b in the release processing unit 201, and the near infrared heater 19 is used. The release film 1 is formed on the surface of the roll mold 11 b by heating. Thus, in this Embodiment, since the release film 1 can be formed on the roll mold 11b for every mold release, the mold release film 1 is continuously formed uniformly and stably. be able to.

  Also in this embodiment, the shape and size of the fine pattern on the roll mold 11b, the thickness of the UV curable resin layer 12 formed on the resin substrate 25, the pressing force of the coating roll 20, the near infrared heater 19 The output of the second embodiment was the same as that of the first embodiment, and the conveyance speed of the resin substrate 25 of Roll to Roll was 1 m / min. As a result, it was possible to continuously carry out the molding of transferring the fine pattern of the roll mold 11b 1000 times or more continuously on the surface of the transferred resin layer 12 of the resin base 25.

  Therefore, by having the above configuration, the mold release processing can be performed in a short time even in the imprint apparatus 200. In addition, since the mold release process can be performed in the same apparatus in a short time, the mold release process can be performed in a short cycle, and the imprint molding stability can be easily improved. .

  As mentioned above, although the mold release processing method and imprint apparatus of the mold for imprint which concern on this invention were demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to these embodiment. Unless it deviates from the main point of this invention, what made the various deformation | transformation which those skilled in the art think about embodiment, and another form constructed | assembled combining the one part component in embodiment are also in the scope of the present invention. included.

11a mold 11b mold (roll mold)
12 Transferred resin layer (UV curing resin layer)
13 Press roll 14 UV emitter 15 Substrate 16 Support base 17 Fixing jig 18 Angle adjustment roll 19 Near infrared emitter (Near infrared heater)
20 Coating Roll 21 Die Coater 25 Resin Base Material 26 Nip Roll 41 Mold 42 Substrate 43 UV Curing Resin 44 UV Light

Claims (6)

A mold release treatment method for forming a mold release film on the surface of a mold for imprinting, comprising:
Apply a release agent containing volatile components to the surface of the coating roll,
The mold release agent is applied to the surface of the mold by scanning the application roll while bringing the surface of the application roll into contact with the surface of the mold.
Heating the release agent applied to the surface of the mold to volatilize the volatile components to form the release film on the surface of the mold;
Release processing method. The surface of the coating roll is composed of a porous elastomer,
The mold release processing method according to claim 1. The porous elastomer is composed of rubber or silicone resin.
The mold release processing method according to claim 2. Irradiating the surface of the mold with near infrared rays to heat the release agent;
The mold release processing method according to claim 1. Before applying the mold release agent to the surface of the mold, the surface of the mold is irradiated with ultraviolet rays to decompose and remove substances adhered to the surface of the mold.
The mold release processing method according to claim 1. A mold release processing unit for performing the mold release processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
A molding unit that performs imprinting using the mold that has been subjected to the mold release treatment in the mold release processing unit;
With
The release processing unit
A pretreatment unit that applies the release agent containing the volatile component to the surface of the application roll;
An application unit that applies the release agent to the surface of the mold by scanning the application roll while bringing the surface of the application roll to which the release agent has been applied into contact with the surface of the mold;
A release film forming part for volatilizing the volatile component by heating the release agent applied to the surface of the mold to form the release film on the surface of the mold;
Have
Imprint apparatus.

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