Effect of oxygen plasma irradiation on hydrogen silsesquioxane nanopatterns replicated by room-temperature nanoimprinting

We investigated the effect of oxygen (O-2) plasma irradiation on hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ) pattems replicated by room-temperature nanoimprinting. The HSQ-imprinted patterns with rectangular shapes changed when heated to 200 degrees C. Furthermore, they disappeared immediately when they were placed on a hot plate at a temperature of 300 degrees C. In contrast, 02 plasma preirradiation of HSQ-imprinted nanostructures prevented the pattern deformation during postbaking. Even at the high annealing temperature of 1000 degrees C, HSQ-replicated patterns with 200 nm linewidth, retained its initial pattern profiles. The measured water contact angle of O-2-plasma-irradiated HSQ surface decreased from 104 to 25 degrees. The relative intensity of O 1s/Si 2p of the O-2-irradiated HSQ surface, measured by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy increased from 3.13 to 4.23. These values were very close to those of thermally grown SiO2 (26.2 degrees and 4.87).