Micro-Patterning onto DLC coating by Plasma Oxygen Etching

Abstract

Micro- and nano-patterning to coated substrates becomes popular for fabricating the tools and dies to imprint the designed patterns onto optical polymers and oxide glasses and for fabricating the micro-devices. In particular, DLC-coated tools and dies have sufficient strength and wear-toughness enough to be working as a mold-die for imprinting these patterns onto any optical materials even at the elevated temperature. In the present paper, high density oxygen plasma etching system is developed to make high-speed etching onto DLC coated mold materials. With aid of in-situ plasma diagnosis, the whole etching process from initial state to termination is on-line monitored to describe the etching behavior. Owing to the activated oxygen atom flux, high etching rate is attained in the present system; e.g., about 13.7 m/H only for DLC coating without any interlayers or top/under coatings, and, around 5.0 m/H at the presence of thin metallic interlayers. Micro-grooving patterns are utilized to investigate the effect of micro-geometry on the accuracy of etching.