A study on focused ion beam milling of glassy carbon molds for the thermal imprinting of quartz and borosilicate glasses

The need for a flexible, low-cost and high-throughput process for the fabrication of a nano/micro glass-based micro fluidic device is becoming increasingly acute as the bio-MEMS industry is expanding very fast. In this study, repetitive-pass milling with a focused ion beam (FIB) was used for maskless and resistless fabrication of glassy carbon (GC) molds, which will then be the primary elements in the mass production of nano/micro glass devices by mold replication processes. The aim of the study is to establish basic process conditions and to investigate possible problems that occur during both FIB milling of GC and thermal imprint of glasses. First, the milled depth-beam dwell time curve for GC was investigated experimentally, and the relationship between the areal ion dose and the milled depth was formulated for application to the design of mold parts using FIB milling. Then, GC molds were produced and used for imprinting glasses to make micro fluidic parts. Surface contamination due to the FIB milling could be eliminated by a vacuum heat treatment at 1400 °C for 10 min. Finally, a dimensional mismatch arising from a thermal expansion coefficient mismatch between the GC mold and the glass materials was discussed.