Geometric Error Analysis Of Precision Roller Embossing

Roll-to-roll imprinting process is a replication technology of micro/nano-patterns. Compared with traditional micro/nano-fabrication techniques, roll-to-roll takes many advantages in lower cost, large area, and high efficiency. Products fabricated by roll-to-roll imprint processes have wide potential applications in many areas such as LGP (Light Guide Plate), Reflecting films and micro-lens arrays. With the increasing of market demands of these optical devices, the Roll-to-Roll fabrication has received more and more attention. As a consequence it is necessary to study the stability, deforming effect and replication results of roll-to-roll processes.In this thesis, the influence of geometric errors of roll-to-roll is studied from the macro and micro aspects. The macro aspect refers to the shape and position errors of the drum molds. And the micro aspect refers to the biting errors of drum teeth during the separating process from the substrates.In the macro aspect, a module is built to evaluate the form and position errors and another module is built to evaluate their uncertainty with MATLAB. A virtual stamping and virtual testing system is established to set the system tolerances, guiding the measurement and alignment.In the micro aspect, taking into account the difference between traditional imprinting and Roll imprinting, we build a mathematical model to optimize the teeth shapes of the rolls for compensating the structure distortion during the rolling motion. Squared patterns are adopted to demonstrate the validity of this compensation method. The simulation and testing results indicate that the manufacturing accuracy of the polymer structure can be improved after optimization of structures.