Numerical Investigation of Micro Thermal Imprint Process of Glassy Polymer near the Glass Transition Temperature

열방식 마이크로 임프린트 공정을 위한 고분자 재료의 수치적 모델링과 해석

The research on miniature devices based on non-silicon materials, in particular polymeric materials has been attracting more and more attention in the research field of the micro/nano fabrication in recent years. Lost of applications and many literatures have been reported. However, the study on the micro thermal imprint process of glassy polymer is still not systematic and inadequate. The aim of this research I to obtain a numerical material model for an amorphous glassy polymer, polycarbonate (PC), which can be used in finite element analysis (FEA) of the micro thermal imprint process near the glass transition temperature (Tg). An understanding of the deformation behavior of the PC specimens was acquired by performing tensile stress relaxation tests. The viscoelastic material model based on generalized Maxwell model was introduced for the material near Tg to establish the FE model based on the commercial FEA code ABAQUS/Standard with a suitable set of parameters obtained for this material model form the test data. As a result, the feasibility of the established viscoelastic model for PC near Tg was confirmed and this material model can be used in FE analysis for the prediction and improvement of the micro thermal imprint process for pattern replication.