Fabrication of plasmonic crystals using programmable nanoreplica molding process

The development of many photonic devices, such as photonic integrated circuit, optical sensors, and photovoltaic devices, demands low-cost and reliable fabrication technologies to fabricate sub-wavelength features. Here, we report a programmable nanoreplica molding process, which is capable of producing photonic devices with a variety of submicrometer patterns. The process utilizes a stretchable plastic mold to generate the desired periodic pattern using a UVcurable polymer on plastic substrates. During the replica molding process, a uniaxial force is applied to the mold and results in changes of the periodic structure, which locates on the surface of the mold. The geometry of the replicated pattern, including the lattice constant and arrangement, is determined by the magnitude and direction of the force. As an example, we present a plasmonic crystal device with surface plasmon resonances carefully tuned by using the uniaxial force. This unique process offers an inexpensive route to generate various periodic nanostructures rapidly.