Formation of hierarchical silica nanochannels through nanoimprint lithography

Hierarchically structured silica nanochannels were fabricated through the combination of supercritical carbon dioxide mediated silica deposition and nanoimprint lithography of a sacrificial polymer template. Highly-ordered mesoporous silica was prepared with either spherical or cylindrical domain level features, [similar]5-6 nm in diameter, to compliment the device level structure of the embedded nanochannels. The hierarchical structure was used as a test device for low-k dielectric materials with a dielectric constant of 2.0 observed.