Low-temperature plasma assisted nanotransfer printing between thermoplastic polymers

Abstract

we performed a survey of the factors controlling the changes of the adhesion characteristics for PMMA and PET surfaces upon plasma activation of the respective interfaces for nanotransfer printing. Polar active functional groups introduced by plasma surface activation made the polymer surfaces more hydrophilic and caused a dramatic increase of the interfacial adhesion. This enabled lowering of the substrate temperature at which NTP can be successfully performed from 170 C to 60 C. The observed changes in transferability between two polymers with plasma chemistry and processing temperature are consistent with the observed trends in work of adhesion as a result of plasma surface activation. Lowering the substrate temperature at which successful NTP processes can be performed below Tg by plasma surface activation of interfaces appears promising for facilitating industrial implementation of soft lithographies involving thermoplastic polymer materials.