An intermediate-layer lithography method for generating multiple microstructures made of different conducting polymers

An intermediate-layer lithography (ILL) method has been developed in this work to generate multiple microstructures of different conducting polymers on the same substrate. Previous and current efforts in developing conducting polymer microsystems mainly focus on generating a device of a single function. When multiple micropatterns of different conducting polymers are produced on the same substrate, many microsystems of multiple functions can be envisioned. However, existing techniques present significant technical challenges of degradation, low throughput, low resolution, depth of field, and/or residual layer in producing conducting polymer microstructures. To circumvent these challenges, the ILL method has been explored to generate multiple micropatterns of different conducting polymers in a parallel manner. In this method, conducting polymer materials and a non-conducting polymer intermediate layer are first coated on a substrate, and are then patterned through a mold insertion at a raised temperature. In this work, the ILL has been used to successfully pattern three types of commonly used conducting polymers on the same substrate under a single mold insertion, and simulation has been conducted to gain a good understanding of the molding process. Due to distinctive advantages of simplicity, low cost and high throughput, the ILL has promising applications in fabricating micropatterns for polymer-based microsystems.