Characterisation of new thermosetting polymer materials for nanoimprint lithography

The properties of the thermosetting polymer mr-I-9000, developed and used for nanoimprint lithography (NIL), were investigated by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The spectra of mr-I-9000 were compared with those of PMMA and show the presence of aromatic rings and a high amount of carbon–carbon and carbon–hydrogen bonds. As a consequence, the mask selectivity of mr-I-9000 in an oxygen and tetrafluoromethane reactive ion etching processes is higher than that for PMMA and slightly different for the cross-linked and non-cross-linked state.