WO2007052469A1

WO2007052469A1 - Imprinting apparatus and imprinting method

Info

Publication number: WO2007052469A1
Application number: PCT/JP2006/320707
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hiroshi Miyakoshi; Masahiro Morikawa
Original assignee: Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.
Priority date: 2005-10-31
Filing date: 2006-10-18
Publication date: 2007-05-10
Also published as: JPWO2007052469A1

Abstract

An imprinting apparatus and imprinting method in which, even when the degree of parallelism between the surface of a die for imprinting and the surface of a work to be molded is low, pressing can be conducted while automatically improving the degree of parallelism. This imprinting apparatus is characterized by having a work-holding part for holding a work to be molded and a die-supporting part for supporting a die having a fine structure. It is further characterized by having a constitution in which when the work and the die are brought close to each other and pressing is conducted in order to transfer the fine structure to the work, a pressing force is applied through a deformation mechanism which is deformed by the pressing-direction force.

Description

Specification

Imprint apparatus and imprint method

Technical field

The present invention relates to an imprint apparatus and imprint method for transferring a microstructure of a mold to a material to be molded.

Background art

[0002] An imprint method is known in which a mold having a fine structure is pressure-molded with a resin such as polystyrene and then the molded product is peeled off from the mold to obtain a fine structure having minute protrusions. (For example, see Patent Document 1 below).

Patent Document 1: JP-A-2005-189128

Disclosure of the invention

Problems to be solved by the invention

[0003] In the imprint, the parallelism between the surface of the mold and the surface of the resin that is the molding material may be reduced. For example, this is due to dimensional error, shape error, inclination during installation of the molding material, and the like. It may also occur even when the tilt fixed by the alignment adjustment mechanism has shifted due to changes over time. If pressure is applied in a state where the parallelism is lowered in this way, the contact and surface pressure between the mold and the material to be molded become non-uniform, and the filling of the fine structure into the mold becomes insufficient, resulting in uneven filling. Will occur. In addition, a force that causes the mold and the material to slide relative to each other is generated, and this force does not contribute to filling the resin, but rather acts to destroy the microstructure of the mold.

[0004] In order to avoid the above-described filling unevenness and make the filling of the resin uniform, it is necessary to improve the surface adhesion between the mold surface and the surface of the material to be molded. It is necessary to measure the press force beyond the required press force.

[0005] However, if a large pressing force is applied, the outer diameter portion of the material to be molded will be distorted, resulting in a decrease in product accuracy, and the material to be molded may be made of resin. In the case of using an optical element, birefringence occurs and the optical performance deteriorates. In addition, since the force for sliding the mold and the material to be molded relative to each other increases and the burden on the mold increases, the durability of the mold is increased. Leading to a decline.

[0006] In view of the above-described problems of the prior art, the present invention automatically performs parallelism even when the parallelism between the surface of the mold for imprinting and the surface of the molding material decreases. It is an object of the present invention to provide an imprint apparatus and imprint method that can be pressed by improving the above.

Means for solving the problem

In order to achieve the above object, an imprint apparatus according to the present invention includes a molding material holding section that holds a molding material, and a mold holding section that holds a mold having a fine structure. In order to transfer the microstructure to the material to be molded, when pressing the material to be molded and the mold relatively close to each other, the material is easily deformed in the pressing direction, and is pressed via a deformation mechanism. It is configured to apply force.

[0008] According to this imprint apparatus, even if the surface of the molding material and the surface of the mold are non-parallel to each other, if a pressing force is applied to the molding material and the mold via the deformation mechanism, Since the deformation mechanism is easily deformed in the press direction, it deforms in accordance with the non-parallel state described above, and the surfaces become parallel to each other. For this reason, even if the parallelism between the surface of the mold for imprinting and the surface of the material to be molded is lowered, the parallelism can be automatically improved and pressing can be performed, and the microstructure of the mold can be covered. Can be accurately transferred to the molding material. In addition, fine adjustment of the parallelism between the material to be molded and the mold becomes unnecessary, and the imprint formability can be improved.

[0009] In the imprint apparatus, it is preferable that the deformation mechanism deforms larger than the entire apparatus including the molding material holding unit and the mold holding unit when the pressing force is applied. In this way, the rigidity of the deformation mechanism is made much smaller than the rigidity of the entire device, so that when the press force is applied, the entire device is hardly deformed, and the deformation mechanism preferentially deforms in the press direction. It is easily deformed according to the non-parallel state of the surface of the workpiece and the surface of the material to be molded, and the parallelism can be easily improved.

[0010] Further, the deformation mechanism can be arranged between a support base that supports the molding material holding portion and the molding material holding portion. Further, the deformation mechanism may be disposed between a support for supporting the mold holding part and the mold holding part. The deformation mechanism may be arranged on both.

[0011] Further, the deformation mechanism includes an elastic member so that the deformation of the deformation mechanism is elastic deformation, Since the elastic recovery is performed after the pressing force is removed, the deformation mechanism can be used repeatedly, and the molding cost does not increase. Examples of the elastic member include a rubber o member and a spring member such as a coil spring.

[0012] The imprinting method according to the present invention easily deforms in the pressing direction when pressing a mold having a fine structure and a material to be molded relatively close to each other, and applies a pressing force via a deformation mechanism. In addition, the fine structure is transferred to the material to be molded.

[0013] According to this imprint method, even if the surface of the material to be molded and the surface of the mold are non-parallel to each other, when a pressing force is applied to the material to be molded and the mold via the deformation mechanism, Since the deformation mechanism is easily deformed in the press direction, it deforms in accordance with the non-parallel state described above, and the surfaces become parallel to each other. For this reason, even if the parallelism between the surface of the mold for imprinting and the surface of the material to be molded is lowered, the parallelism can be automatically improved and pressing can be performed, and the microstructure of the mold can be covered. Can be accurately transferred to the molding material. In addition, fine adjustment of the parallelism between the material to be molded and the mold becomes unnecessary, and the imprint formability can be improved.

[0014] When the surface of the material to be molded and the surface including the fine structure are not parallel to each other in the imprint method, the pressing mechanism is applied to deform the deformation mechanism. The planes can be parallel to each other.

[0015] In addition, the imprinting method described above is applied to the molding material including the molding material and the sheet material including a hard base material such as silicon and a resin film such as a resist material formed on the hard base material. It is preferable to apply.

The invention's effect

According to the imprint apparatus and the imprint method of the present invention, even when the parallelism between the surface of the imprint mold and the surface of the material to be molded is lowered, the parallelism is automatically improved. Can be pressed. For this reason, the filling of the molding material in the fine structure can be made uniform and uneven filling can be prevented, the fine structure of the mold can be accurately transferred to the molding material, and no extra pressing force is required. The durability of can be improved.

Brief Description of Drawings

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of an imprint apparatus 10 according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional imprint apparatus. FIG. 3 is a photograph of the surface of the resin surface of the molding material pressed with the experimental apparatus and the mold of the present example and comparative example.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining experimental results of this example and a comparative example.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of an imprint apparatus 10 according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining an arrangement example of a coil spring 20b arranged between the molding material holding portion 17 and the support base 18.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of an imprint apparatus 10 according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an imprint apparatus 10 according to a fourth embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of an imprint apparatus 10 according to a fifth embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

[0018] 10 imprint apparatus

11 Mold holder

12 Mold

12a Uneven structure

12b Mold surface

16 Molded material

16a Molded surface

17 Molded material holder

18 Support base

20 Deformation part (deformation mechanism)

20a O-ring

Θ tilt angle

Fz press force

P Press direction

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment. Fig. 1 (a) shows the schematic configuration immediately before the pressing force is applied, and Fig. 1 (b) shows the schematic configuration after the pressing force is applied. [0020] As shown in Figs. L (a) and (b), the imprint apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a plate-shaped mold made of silicon or the like including the concavo-convex microstructure portion 12a in the plane of the mold surface 12b. Mold holding part 11 that holds 12 with holding piece 13 and bolts 14 and molding material 16 that has molding surface 16a and is made of resin such as grease, is held so as to face mold surface 12b. And a deformation mechanism 20 including a rubber O-ring 20a interposed between the support base 18 that supports the molding material holding section 17 and the molding material holding section 17. .

[0021] The imprint apparatus 10 includes a press mechanism (not shown) that applies a pressing force in the direction P from the upper side to the lower side with respect to the mold holding unit 11, and the mold holding unit 11 is moved in the direction P by the press mechanism. The mold 12 is pressed against the molding material 16 by pressing against the molding material holding portion 17, and the shape of the concave and convex microstructure 12 a of the mold 12 is transferred to the molding surface 16 a of the molding material 16.

[0022] The mold holding part 11 and the molding material holding part 17 are made of, for example, a metal material such as steel or stainless steel, and have relatively high rigidity. For this reason, the deformation mechanism 20 consisting of the rubber O-ring 20a has a die holding portion that holds the die 12 that also has silicon equal force when a pressing force is applied in the direction P, as shown in FIG. 1 (b). 11 and the entire apparatus including the molding material holding part 17 holding the molding material 16 such as resin, and elastically deforms so that the circular cross section of the O-ring 20a is crushed.

Next, the operation of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. 1A and 1B are cross-sectional views of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the first embodiment. In this embodiment, an O-ring 20a is used for the deformation mechanism 20. As shown in Fig. 1 (a), the mold holding unit 17 holds the mold 12 and is placed on the support 18 via the O-ring 20a with the mold holding part 17 holding the mold 16. Part 11 is supported upward.

[0024] Here, the mold 12 has a dimension error, a shape error, a tilt when the mold 12 is held in the mold holding section 11, or a tilt of the mold holding section 11. The surface 12b is not parallel to the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16, but is inclined. That is, the center line a of the mold 12 is inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 (indicated by a dotted line).

[0025] When the mold holding unit 11 is moved in the direction P in FIG. 1B by the press mechanism (not shown) in the above-described state, the mold surface 12b and the molding surface 16a are not parallel and tilted. Misalignment occurs Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1 (a), the mold 12 first comes into contact with the corner of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 at the position of the molding surface 12b that is shifted from the center line a by the distance R in the radial direction. When the mold 12 presses the molding surface 16a with the pressing force Fz at the shifted position, the O-ring 20a of the deformation mechanism 20 on the shifted position side starts elastic deformation.

[0026] Then, when the mold holding part 11 is further moved in the direction P and pressed, the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 coincides with the center line a of the mold 12 by the pressing force Fz. The O-ring 20a is elastically deformed. In this way, the O-ring 20a is crushed and elastically deformed on the shifted position side, so that the inclination of the molding surface 16a and the mold surface 12b is absorbed, and the molding material 16 The molding surface 16a is substantially parallel to the mold surface 12b of the mold 12, so that the mold surface 12b comes into contact with the entire surface of the molding surface 16a and is in close contact with the molding surface. At this time, the pressing force Fz acts on the molding surface 16a in the same direction as the center line a of the mold 12.

[0027] As described above, even if the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 and the molding surface 12b of the mold 12 are non-parallel to each other, the deformation mechanism 20 is formed between the molding material 16 and the mold 12. When the pressing force is applied through the deformation mechanism 20, the deformation mechanism 20 is elastically deformed so that the surfaces 16a and 12b are parallel to each other. Therefore, even when the parallelism of the surfaces 16a and 12b is reduced, the parallelism is automatically Can be improved. As a result, the contact and surface pressure between the molding surface 16a and the mold surface 12b become uniform, and the mold 12 is pressed against the molding material 16 by further applying a pressing force in this state. The irregular fine structure portion 12a of the molding material 16 is sufficiently filled with the resin, and the shape of the irregular fine structure portion 12a can be accurately transferred. In addition, fine adjustment of the parallelism between the molding material 16 and the mold 12 is not required, and the imprint formability can be improved.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a conventional imprint apparatus. FIG. 2 (a) shows an imprint apparatus in which the imprint apparatus force of FIG. FIG. 2 (b) shows a state in which the material to be molded is greatly deformed when the pressing force of the imprint apparatus of FIG. 2 (a) is increased.

[0029] As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the mold 12 remains on the molding surface while the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 is tilted at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the center line a of the mold 12. When 16a is pressed, a pressing force Fz is applied in a direction inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the center line a of the mold 12. Then, the mold surface 12b does not adhere to the end A side of the molding surface 16a, and the mold 12 contacts the molding material 16. • Contact pressure becomes uneven. For this reason, the filling of the molding material 16 into the uneven microstructure portion 12a of the mold 12 becomes insufficient.

[0030] Further, when the pressing force is increased so as to bring the mold surface 12b into close contact with the entire molding surface 16a, the vicinity of the side surface 19 of the molding material 16 is greatly deformed as shown in FIG. 2 (b). . In addition, if the mold 12 is inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the molding surface 16a, a force that causes the mold 12 and the molding material 16 to slide relative to each other generates a force Fx. It is a component that does not contribute to the process, and becomes a factor that destroys the concave-convex microstructure 12a of the mold 12. When the pressing force is increased, the sliding force Fx is further increased, and the fracture of the uneven fine structure portion 12a further proceeds.

[0031] In the above-described conventional technology, the larger the area of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 is, the more easily the contact surface pressure between the mold 12 and the molding material 16 becomes non-uniform. According to the imprint apparatus 10 according to the embodiment, even if the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 has a relatively large area, the molding surface 16a is uniformly applied to the molding surface 12b of the mold 12 with uniform surface pressure. The contact unevenness can be brought into close contact, and uneven filling can be reduced.

[0032] In addition, since the required pressing force can be greatly reduced compared to pressing while tilting, the burden on the mold 12 is reduced, the durability of the mold is improved, and the molding material 16 When the optical element is made of resin, it is possible to reduce the bad optical performance due to birefringence as in the prior art.

[0033] Since the molding surface 16a is inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the mold 12 in the initial state of FIG. 1 (a), the mold 12 and the molding material 16 Although the force Fx that slides relative to each other acts, Fx can also be relieved by the elastic deformation of the deformation mechanism 20, so the sliding force that destroys the uneven microstructure 12a in the horizontal direction in the figure decreases, and the mold Contributes to 12 durability improvement.

[0034] In addition, in the above-described imprint method, the molding material 16 includes a hard base material such as silicon and a resin film such as a resist material formed on the hard base material. It is preferable to apply to a sheet material. Since the molding material 16 is not easily elastically deformed, if the molding surface 16a and the mold surface 12b are not parallel to each other when pressed without the deformation mechanism 20, the molding material 16 is difficult to adhere, but the deformation mechanism 20 By interposing, the molding material 16 can be brought into close contact with the mold surface 12b of the mold 12 and the filling unevenness can be reduced.

[0035] In the imprint method, the mold and the material to be molded are heated as necessary. With regard to unexpected mold release in which the mold and the material to be molded are separated due to heat shrinkage during the rejection process, such mold release can be prevented by interposing the deformation mechanism 20.

Example

Next, the present invention will be further described with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples.

[0037] Fig. 3 shows a photograph of the surface of the resin surface of the molding material pressed with the experimental device of this example, the experimental device of the comparative example, and a mold. Fig. 3 (a-1) shows the experimental device of the comparative example, and Fig. 3 (b-1) shows the experimental device of the present example. Figure 3 (& — 2) shows a press car 400? Fig. 3 (&-3) is a photograph of the surface of the resin surface of a comparative molding material that was pressed with a press card 800? Further, FIG. 3 (b-2) is a photograph of the surface of the resin of the molding material of this example in which the mold was pressed with a press force of 400N.

[0038] In this example and comparative example, as shown in Fig. 3 (a-1) and Fig. 3 (b-1), a back surface observation jig 102 is disposed on the Z stage 100 via the load cell 101, The resin sheet 16 as the molding material 16 fixed to the sheet chuck 103 was pressed from above with the mold 12, and the back surface of the resin sheet at that time was observed and photographed. The resin sheet used was a heat-resistant transparent resin “ARTON ZARTON (registered trademark)” CFSR Co., Ltd.) with a thickness of 188 / z m, and the mold temperature was set to 210 degrees. In the example, a commercially available rubber O-ring 20a is disposed below the back surface observation jig, and is omitted in the comparative example. The material of the O-ring 20a was -tolyl rubber, which had an inner diameter of 29.7 mm, a wire diameter of 3.5 mm, and a hardness of 70 ± 5 Hs (according to JIS standards). The mold 12 was a silicon substrate on which an uneven fine structure (depth 1300 nm, pitch 350 nm) having a circular planar shape was formed.

[0039] In the case of the ON force of the comparative example OON, as shown in Fig. 3 (a-1), the contact pressure between the mold and the sheet surface on the right side of the photograph is considerably uneven, and the pressing force is 800 N. When it is doubled, the contact / surface pressure is improved as shown in Fig. 3 (a-2), but birefringence occurs due to the high pressure! On the other hand, in this example, when the pressing force is 400N, the contact between the mold and the sheet surface compared to the pressing force force OON of the comparative example as shown in Fig. 3 (b-2). It can be seen that there is a considerable improvement. It can also be seen that the misalignment due to the inclination between the mold surface and the sheet surface is corrected.

[0040] FIG. 4 shows the mold force in the present example and the comparative example (both press forces are 400 N). FIG. 5 is a diagram plotting the measured structural height against the measured radial position by measuring the structural height of the uneven fine pattern transferred to the sheet.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 4, the structure depth of the concave-convex microstructure is a force in which the left end force at the radial position is substantially constant from the right end to the right end in this example. In the comparative example, the structure depth is the lmm force at the radial position. Decrease starts + Lmm is zero, and transfer is not performed in the range of + lmm to + 2mm. In this way, in the comparative example without misalignment correction, the contact-surface pressure between the mold and the sheet surface was insufficient and uneven filling of the resin occurred, but misalignment correction was performed. In the examples, there is almost no uneven filling of sallow.

[0042] In this example, misalignment correction was started with a pressing force of about 70 N in the initial stage when the pressing force was started, and no release force was generated in the mold cooling process. It was.

[0043] As described above, the force described for the first embodiment The present invention is not limited to these, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention. For example, in FIG. 1, the force using a rubber O-ring 20a as an elastic member of the deformation mechanism 20 The present invention is not limited to this, and other elastic bodies may be used, for example, a plate member made of rubber, A coil spring may be used. A rubber material such as an O-ring is not limited to such a force that fluorine rubber or -tolyl rubber can be used. Other embodiments will be described below, but the same functional elements described so far are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

Next, the imprint apparatus 10 of the second embodiment using a coil spring for the deformation mechanism 20 will be described. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the imprint apparatus 10 of the second embodiment, and FIG. 6 is an explanatory view for explaining an arrangement example of the coil spring 20b arranged between the molding material holding portion 17 and the support base 18.

As shown in FIG. 5, the mold holding unit 17 holding the mold 12 is placed on the support base 18 via the coil spring 20b in a state where the molding target holding part 17 holds the molding target 16. Part 11 is supported upward.

[0045] The coil spring 20b needs to be arranged at a position where the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17 is divided into at least three equal parts so as to be uniformly deformed in each direction. Fig. 6 (a) shows an example where the circumference of the molding material holding part 17 is divided into four equal parts, and Fig. 6 (b) shows that the circumference of the molding material holding part 17 is divided into eight equal parts. It is the example arrange | positioned in the position. As shown in FIG. 6 (b), it is desirable that more coil springs 20b be evenly arranged on the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17.

Next, an example of a panel constant when selecting the coil spring 20b will be described.

When the mold surface 12b abuts the molding surface 16a as shown in Fig. 5, the distance between the molding surface 12 and the molding surface 16a at the other end A of the molding material 16 is defined as a parallelism error ΔΖ. To do. Further, it is assumed that the coil spring 20b is disposed at a position obtained by dividing the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17 into four equal parts as shown in FIG. 6 (a). When the parallelism error ΔΖ is 0.05 mm, the pressing force is 400 N, and the stroke amount of the coil spring 20b is 1 mm or more, for example, the panel constant is preferably in the range of 90 NZmm to approximately lONZmm.

Other components and operations in FIG. 5 are the same as those in the first embodiment except that the coil spring 20b is used for the deformation mechanism 20, and the description thereof is omitted.

Next, the imprint apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment in which the molding material holding portion 17 is supported by the rotary bearing 72 will be described. FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment. As in FIG. 5, the mold holder 11 holding the mold 12 is placed on the support base 18 via the coil spring ² Ob in a state where the mold holder 17 holds the mold 16. Is supported upward. The coil spring 20b used as the deformation mechanism 20 needs to be arranged at a position obtained by dividing the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17 into at least three equal parts so as to be uniformly deformed in each direction. In FIG. 7, it is assumed that the coil spring 20b is arranged at a position obtained by dividing the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17 into four equal parts.

In the third embodiment, the molding material holding portion 17 is supported by a shaft 71 having a rotary bearing 72. The shaft 71 slides on the linear motion bearing 70 and can move in the vertical direction on the paper surface, but cannot move in the horizontal direction on the paper surface. Therefore, the molding material holding portion 17 can be moved up and down in the drawing and rotated around the rotary bearing 72.

Next, the operation of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described. As in FIG. 1, FIG. 7 shows a state in which the center line a of the mold 12 is inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the center line b of the molding surface 16a. When the die holding part 11 is moved in the direction P in FIG. 7 by the press mechanism (not shown) in the above state, the die 12 is displaced from the center line a by the distance R in the radial direction as shown in FIG. At the position of the mold surface 12b, it contacts the corner of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 and Press the molding surface 16a at the above offset position with the less force Fz. Then, the coil spring 20b of the deforming mechanism 20 on the shifted position side starts to be elastically deformed, and the molding material holding portion 17 starts to rotate in the direction of arrow G around the rotary bearing 72.

[0051] When the mold holding portion 11 is further moved in the direction P and pressed, the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 matches the center line a of the mold 12 by the pressing force Fz. Then, the coil spring 20b is elastically deformed, and the molding material holding portion 17 rotates about the rotary bearing 72. Further, the shaft 71 moves downward in the drawing according to the elastic deformation of the coil spring 20b. In this way, the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 is substantially parallel to the molding surface 12b of the mold 12, so that the molding surface 12b contacts the entire surface of the molding surface 16a and adheres uniformly. become. At this time, the pressure Fz acts on the molding surface 16a in the same direction as the center line a of the mold 12.

[0052] As described above, when a pressing force is applied to the molding material 16 and the mold 12 via the deformation mechanism 20, the deformation mechanism 20 is elastically deformed so that the surfaces 16a and 12b are parallel. Even when the parallelism of the surfaces 16a and 12b is reduced, the parallelism can be automatically improved. Furthermore, in this embodiment, since the molding material holding portion 17 rotates around the rotary bearing 72, the mold surface 12b and the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 that are first contacted with each other even if the pressing force is applied. The positional relationship with is not shifted. From this, the uneven fine structure portion 12a of the mold 12 is sufficiently filled with the resin of the molding material 16, and the uneven microstructure portion 12a can be transferred to the molding material 16 with higher accuracy.

[0053] In the present embodiment, the force explained using the coil spring 20b as the deformation mechanism 20 is not limited to the coil spring 20b. The application of the present embodiment is not limited to the O-ring and the plate panel. Alternatively, a hydraulic mechanism or the like may be used.

Next, an imprint apparatus 10 according to a fourth embodiment in which a hydraulic mechanism is used as the deformation mechanism 20 will be described. FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the imprint apparatus 10 of the fourth embodiment. The molding material holder 17 is supported by rotatable rotary bearings 65a and 65b. As in the case of the coil spring 20b, the rotary bearing 65 needs to be arranged at a position obtained by dividing the circumference of the molding material holding portion 17 into at least three equal parts so as to be uniformly deformed in each direction. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6 (a), it is assumed that the circumference of the molding material holding part 17 is arranged at a position equally divided into four parts, and a deformation interlocked with two of the rotary bearings 65a and 65b. Explain mechanism 20 The rotary bearings 65a and 65b are attached to the shafts 66a and 66b, and the rotary bearings 67a and 67b are attached to the other ends of the shafts 66a and 66b. The rotary bearings 67a and 67b are rotatably supported by the cylinders 61a and 61b. The cylinders 61a and 61b are arranged so that the cylinder tubes 68a and 68b can slide in the vertical direction on the paper surface. The lower part of each cylinder 61 is connected by a pipe 69, and the lower part of each cylinder 68 and the pipe 69 are filled with fluid 60. The fluid 60 may be water, air, or the like that is not limited to power oil using oil.

Next, the operation of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. As in FIG. 1, FIG. 8 shows a state in which the center line a of the mold 12 is inclined at an inclination angle Θ with respect to the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16.

[0057] When the mold holding unit 11 is moved in the direction P in Fig. 8 by a press mechanism (not shown) in the above-described state, the mold surface 12b and the molding surface 16a are not parallel and are inclined to misalignment. First, as shown in FIG. 8, the mold 12 comes into contact with the corner of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 at the position of the molding surface 12b that is radially displaced from the center line a by the distance R. . Then, the molding surface 16a is pressed at the position shifted by the pressing force Fz, so that the shaft 66a of the deformation mechanism 20 on the shifted position side is pushed down. The cylinder 61a interlocked with the shaft 66a moves to the lower side of the cylinder 68a. The cylinder cylinder 68a is filled with the cylinder cylinder 68a by the pressure of the cylinder cylinder 68a until then, and the fluid 60 pushes up another cylinder 61 such as the cylinder 61b.

[0058] When the mold holding part 11 is further moved in the direction P and pressed, the center line b of the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 matches the center line a of the mold 12 by the pressing force Fz. The cylinders 61a and 61b are moved to. In this way, the inclination between the molding surface 16a and the mold surface 12b is absorbed, and the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16 is substantially parallel to the molding surface 12b of the mold 12, The mold surface 12b comes into contact with the entire surface of the molding surface 16a and comes into uniform contact. At this time, the pressing force Fz acts on the molding surface 16a in the same direction as the center line a of the mold 12.

[0059] When a hydraulic mechanism is used as the deformation mechanism 20 in this way, the cylinder 61 of the deformation mechanism 20 moves quickly so that the surfaces 16a and 12b become parallel when the pressing force is adjusted. The pressing force can be uniformly distributed between 1 6 and the mold 12. Next, the imprint apparatus 10 according to the fifth embodiment in which the deformation mechanism 20 is disposed between the support base 90 that supports the mold holding part 11 and the mold holding part 11 will be described. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the fifth embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, the imprint apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment includes a mold holder 11 that holds a mold 12 with a bolt 94, and a support base that supports the mold holder 11 with a bolt 94. V with 90. A rubber O-ring 20 a is interposed as a deformation mechanism 20 between the support base 90 and the mold holder 11. In the present embodiment, an example in which the O-ring 20a is used as the deformation mechanism 20 will be described. However, a coil spring, a plate spring, a hydraulic mechanism, or the like may be used for the deformation mechanism 20 as in the embodiments described so far. good.

[0062] The imprint apparatus 10 includes a press mechanism 92 that applies a pressing force from the upper side to the lower side in a direction P with respect to the mold holding unit 11, and presses the support base 90 in the direction P by the press mechanism 92, thereby supporting The mold holding part 11 fixed to the base 90 is pressed against the molding material holding part 17. In this way, the mold 12 is pressed against the molding material 16, and the shape of the concave-convex microstructure 12 a of the mold 12 is transferred to the molding surface of the molding material 16.

[0063] The mold holding part 11 and the molding material holding part 17 are also made of, for example, a metal material such as steel or stainless steel, and have relatively high rigidity. For this reason, the deformation mechanism 20 made of the rubber O-ring 20a is made of silicon or the like when the pressing force is applied in the direction P, as in the first embodiment described in FIG. The deformation is larger than the entire apparatus including the mold holding part 11 holding the mold 12 and the molding material holding part 17 holding the molding material 16 such as resin.

Next, the operation of the imprint apparatus 10 according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described.

Here, it is assumed that the mold surface 12b of the mold 12 is not parallel to the molding surface 16a of the molding material 16, but is inclined.

When the mold holding part 11 is moved in the direction P in FIG. 1 (b) by the press mechanism 92 in the above-described state, one end of the mold 12 comes into contact with the corner of the workpiece 16 and the contacted position The O-ring 20a of the deformation mechanism 20 on the side starts elastic deformation.

[0067] When the mold holding part 11 is further moved in the direction P and pressed, the O-ring 20a is elastically deformed so as to be crushed at the shifted position side, so that the molding surface 16a and the mold are The tilt with respect to the surface 12b is absorbed. In this way, the mold surface 12b becomes the molding surface 16 Abuts the entire surface of a and adheres uniformly.

In this embodiment, since the deformation mechanism 20 is provided on the mold holding part 11 side, the point that the mold holding part 11 changes the inclination is different from the embodiment described so far. In the same manner as in the above, the effect of automatically improving the parallelism between the mold surface 12b and the molding surface 16a can be obtained. In the present embodiment, the deformation mechanism 20 is provided only on the mold holding part 11 side. However, the deformation mechanism 20 may be provided between the molding material holding part 17 and the support base 18.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] a molding material holding portion for holding the molding material;

A mold holding part for holding a mold having a fine structure,

In order to transfer the microstructure to the molding material, when pressing the molding material and the mold relatively close to each other, pressing force is applied via a deformation mechanism that is deformed by the force in the pressing direction. An imprint apparatus characterized by being configured to add

[2] The deformation mechanism according to claim 1, wherein when the pressing force is applied, the deformation mechanism deforms larger than the entire apparatus including the molding material holding part and the mold holding part. The imprint apparatus described.

[3] The in- put according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the deformation mechanism is arranged between a support base that supports the molding material holding portion and the molding material holding portion. Printing device.

[4] The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the deformation mechanism is arranged between a support for supporting the mold holding part and the mold holding part. The imprint apparatus described in 1.

[5] The imprinting apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the deformation mechanism includes an elastic member.

[6] When pressing a mold having a fine structure and a material to be molded relatively close to each other, the mold is easily deformed in the pressing direction, and the fine structure is formed by applying a pressing force via a deformation mechanism. An imprinting method comprising transferring to a material to be molded.

[7] The surface of the material to be molded and the surface of the mold are not parallel to each other, and the surface is made parallel to each other by applying the pressing force to deform the deformation mechanism. The imprint method according to claim 6.

[8] The imprint method according to [6] or [7], wherein the material to be molded comprises a hard base material and a resin film formed on the hard base material.

[9] The imprint method according to [6] or [7], wherein the molding material has a sheet material force.