Cicada Wings: A Stamp from Nature for Nanoimprint Lithography

Winging it: The natural micro- and nanostructures that exist on the wings of cicadas (see image) are used as a new type of nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) stamp. NIL is used to fabricate nanowell arrays and the structures are transferred to a silicon substrate by reactive ion etching. Patterned PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)) is also used as a mold to fabricate hexagonal gold pillar arrays that mimick structures on cicada wings. This work demonstrates the use of natural nanostructures as a much cheaper NIL method as cicada wings are abundant and easy to obtain. Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW under http://www.wiley-vch.de/contents/jc_2296/2006/z600255_s.pdf or from the author. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.