Abstract
This paper proposes an alternative manufacturing process, the direct nanoimprint method, which is different from nanoimprint lithography (NIL) and can be employed in the fabrication of metallic thin-film nano-structures. A 3D molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is utilized to simulate the imprint process and to investigate the effects of the thickness of the thin film on the formation of metallic patterns. In the MD simulation model, the metallic thin film and mold, made of gold and nickel, respectively, are formed in face central cubical (FCC) single crystal. Simulation results show that during the imprint process, by varying the thickness of thin films, the substrate effect appears to have a great impact on the formation of metallic patterns. Finally, an experimental investigation is performed as comparison. It has been found that the effects of thin-film thickness on the formation of metallic patterns correspond very well both in simulation and experimental results. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.