High-speed Nanomanufacturing with Roll-Based Lithography Printing
Scientists demonstrated reliable, high-speed continuous nano-manufacturing using roll-based lithography in research at the Nanomanufacturing Systems Center (NASCENT), an NSF-funded Engineering Research Center (ERC) based at the University of Texas at Austin.
The breakthrough promises a significant advance in high-volume nanomanufacturing, helping build a bridge from science to scalable nanotech factories. The roll-to-roll and roll-to-plate processes demonstrated by NASCENT researchers will help produce the much smaller metal components required to continue the miniaturization of electronics. Multiple companies have licensed the technology.
The low-cost process combines existing tools for manufacturing metals on a large scale, using the speed and precision of roll-to-roll and roll-to-plate printing to produce nano-scaled patterns, thus lowering costs, increasing productivity, and the accessibility of the technology. It has applications across many different fields such as the automotive, electronic, chemical, and aerospace industries.
NASCENT’s goal is to enable silicon-grade precision in scalable roll-to-plate (RTP) and roll-to-roll (R2R) nano-manufacturing using nanoimprint lithography with sub-50nm patterning and sub-25nm residual layers for etching functional films. Researchers demonstrated reliable R2P nanopatterning at a speed of one meter per minute while minimizing the residuals that could cause overheating and battery drain in electronics.
