Fabrication of Deterministic Nanostructure Assemblies with Sub-nanometer Spacing Using a Nanoimprinting Transfer Technique

Deterministic patterning or assembly of nanoparticles often requires complex processes that are not easily incorporated into system architectures of arbitrary design. We have developed a technique to fabricate deterministic nanoparticle assemblies using simple and inexpensive nanoimprinting equipment and procedures. First, a metal film is evaporated onto flexible polymer pillars made by nanoimprinting. The resulting metal caps on top of the pillars can be pulled into assemblies of arbitrary design by collapsing the pillars in a well-controlled manner. The nanoparticle assemblies are then transferred from the pillars onto a new substrate via nanoimprinting with the aid of either cold welding or chemical bonding. Using this technique, a variety of patterned nanoparticle assemblies of Au and Ag with a critical dimension less than 2 nm were fabricated and transferred to silicon-, glass-, and metal-coated substrates. Separating the nanostructure assembly from the final architecture removes significant design constraints from devices incorporating nanoparticle assemblies. The application of this process as a technique for generating surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates is presented.