Molecular Dynamics Study of Dependence of Loading Pressure on Shear Properties of Organic Nanofilms

In recent years, as process dimensions in semiconductor nanofabrication have decreased, process costs have dramatically increased. Nanoimprint is one of the relatively low-cost nanofabrication technologies for next generation semiconductor devices and many research institutes and companies around the world are researching and developing this technology as a candidate to replace extreme ultraviolet lithography, the most advanced lithography technology available today. However, in nanoimprint, some tribological problems happen during loading, releasing and alignment process. Elucidating these phenomena under nano-confined conditions is a crucially important subject in this technology. In this study, to obtain fundamental knowledge of friction phenomena in the nanoscale region, we investigated the effects of loading pressure on shear stresses generated between polymer material and silicon substrates under shearing process by molecular dynamics simulation. The results showed that the shear stress increases as the loading pressure on the substrate increases. Additionally, the substrate's roughness, the polymer type, and the polymerization degree significantly affect the shear stress.