Fabrication of slanted gratings with high refractive index starting from master nanoimprint mold.

Abstract

Recently, nanoimprinting has attracted a new round of attention in the industry due to the boom in demand for augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), metalens and microlens, and even semiconductors. Slanted gratings have great application prospects in AR/VR displays because of their high efficiency in light coupling. UV-Nanoimprint lithography (UV-NIL) has been identified as one of the most feasible routes for mass manufacture of high refractive index (RI) slanted gratings. This paper presents a fabrication of high RI slanted gratings based on UV-NIL. A comprehensive study on the optical principles of slanted gratings is conducted, followed by simulation-based optimization of the grating parameters. The key element for applying nanoimprint to fabricate slanted gratings is the master mold, which is acquired by a tilted angle etching of metal gratings as an etching mask on silicon wafers with F-based plasma. The influence of experimental parameters, such as the etching power and etching mask thickness on the morphology of the slanted gratings on the master mold are investigated. The working mold was simply duplicated from the master mold by UV-NIL with a low surface energy working mold material. The high RI slanted gratings were achieved by imprinting a UV-curable resin with high RI. Finally, experimental verification was performed to assess the optical performance of the slanted gratings.