Home Micro & Nano Lab Technologies & Innovations Step-and-Repeat Imprinting

Large-Scale
Step-and-Repeat Imprinting

3D AG has developed unique step-and-repeat imprinting technologies enabling the upscaling of micro- and nanostructures to large-scale surface areas. The engineering of structures by micro and nanofabrication techniques is usually limited to small substrate sizes, which is not sufficient for industrial manufacturing. At 3D AG we have 3 different step-and-repeat technologies for the recombination of structures. Depending on your needs, layout and structure type, we will choose the best upscaling method for you!

Technology Comparison:
Step-and-Repeat Upscaling

Thermomechanical Recombination

Our thermomechanical recombination is a powerful step-and-repeat process for duplicating and assembling holographic images, special diffractive gratings and easily demoldable nanostructures. The in-house creation of the stamper by 3D AG is vital to ensure precise recombination. Through a thermal process, the structures are transferred into a polymer sheet with pressure. Our technique enables the seamless integration of freeforms into larger combined images, regardless of the desired layout or amount of features. Subsequently, the polymer with the recombined features undergoes metallization and is transferred into nickel for mass production tooling.

UV Imprinting Technology

With the rise of deeper and more complex structures, 3D AG engineers innovated a UV photo-polymerization process to unlock new possibilities and extend the step-and-repeat technique for diverse structures. The flexibility of our proprietary system facilitates processing micro and nanoscale structures, enabling the recombination of numerous designs, from micro lens arrays and Fresnel structures, to micro prisms and other functional geometries. This technique tailors various elements to your preferred layout, paving the way for specialized nickel tooling in subsequent steps.

H.U.G.O: Groundbreaking Results in High-Accuracy UV Imprinting

H.U.G.O. (High-Precision.UV.Generation.One) is the first step-and-repeat UV imprinting device with unseen capabilities in upscaling micro and nanostructures with high-accuracy. A rotational skew of under 6.25 arcsec and a positioning accuracy of 5-10 μm in x and y directions on a large-scale are groundbreaking results. After years of research 3D AG has launched an enhanced UV Imprinting and recombination technique elevating industrial manufacturing to the next level.

Innovate and Revolutionize with H.U.G.O

Step-and-Repeat UV Lithography: Customized Imprinting Layouts

The industrial fabrication and manufacturing of every product is unique and requires a specific upscaling layout. The benefit of 3D AG’s step-and-repeat imprinting process is that nearly any layout can be achieved by the UV-recombination technique. The graphical images show exemplary layouts and arrangements created by a single master structure. After large-scale UV imprinting they are transferred to a nickel shim by electroforming to later act as a replication template in various manufacturing and application processes.

Full area step-and-repeat enables the creation of a quasi-endless surface area, while patches and stripes are applied to create a variation of the same basic structure for different end-products or for evaluation in the product development phase. The high accuracy UV stamp imprinting technology also allows the cropping of a structured area to a unique shape. UV lithography also has the capability to combine different structures in the same run in-line with the same accuracy.

Industrial Upscaling

Upscaling Structures:
Register Marks, Running Lines and Cutting Marks

Industrial manufacturing of high precision products has various necessities for a stable in-line production performance. The manufacturing of imprinted films created by UV embossing or other web replication technologies need machine readable register marks, as well as running lines to ensure the needed accuracy. Within the tolerances of the upscaled surface area of the nanostructure and the positioning accuracy of 3D AG’s large-scale UV imprinting, these additions can be designed according to the requirements. In subsequent steps, welded sleeves can be manufactured.