Room-temperature nanoimprint lithography for crystalline poly(fluoroalkyl acrylate) thin films

A mold with a line pattern was imprinted onto a thin film of poly{2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl acrylate} with long crystalline fluoroalkyl groups (PFA-C₈), and the nanoimprinting characteristics of PFA-C₈ thin films were investigated. It was revealed that nanostructures could be imprinted on PFA-C₈ at room temperature because of the weak interaction among the fluoroalkyl groups in crystallites. The nanotextured PFA-C₈ film with a line pattern exhibited anisotropic wetting behavior. The anisotropic wetting behavior was attributed to the difference between the energy barriers of wetting in the direction parallel and orthogonal to the lines. Fabricated nanostructures were stable for annealing below its melting point and were stable at room temperature (RT) for several months.