1-3 Piezocomposites realised from small feature size, high aspect ratio, hot embossed moulds. Part I. Mould development

The industry standard process for the fabrication of 1-3 piezocomposites is limited to pillars with a width of greater than 100 mu m. An alternative process, VP (viscous polymer) embossing, has the potential to overcome this limitation but is expensive because the mould is destroyed each time a piezocomposite it realised. Hot embossing offers the potential to cost effectively replicate piezocomposite moulds from a master so that the process can be moved out of the laboratory. In this publication, the fabrication of polymer moulds, consisting of an array of cavities, which have cavity walls of 30 mu m and aspect ratios of 14 is presented. The quality of replication has been assessed, and the suitability of the process to produce moulds with smaller sized features and higher aspect ratios for high frequency piezocomposite applications is discussed.