| Abstract
| - In this work, a soft lithographic approach has been developed to duplicate photoinduced surface-relief-gratings(SRGs) of azo polymer films to generate the surface pattern replicas composed of different materials on varioussubstrates. For this purpose, thin films of an epoxy-based azo polymer (BP-AZ-CA) were prepared by spin-coating,and SRGs with different structures were inscribed by exposing the films to interference patterns of Ar+ laser beamsat modest intensity (150 mW/cm2). Using the azo polymer films as masters, stamps of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)were prepared by replica molding. The PDMS stamps were then used to transfer the solutions of poly(3-hexylthiophene)(P3HT), multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT), and BP-AZ-CA to different substrates by contact printing. Throughthis process, surface pattern replicas made of the functional materials were obtained. The pattern formation and qualitydepended on the factors such as the solution concentration, contacting time in the printing process, and printingpressure. Under the proper conditions, the printed patterns showed the same grating periods as the masters and thesame relief depths as the stamps (replicas of the masters). This approach, showing some attractive characteristics suchas the easiness of master preparation and the versatility of soft fabrication processes, can be applied to the fabricationsof optical functional surfaces, sensors, and photonic devices.
|
