The ambitious goal of this project is to develop and establish a maskless and resistless manufacturing technology for NIL master stamps based on the direct material deposition and etching with charged particle beams. A massively parallel array of focused ion beams or focused electron beams will allow ultra-precise etching and deposition of either a hardmask or of the master stamp itself. The capability to directly fabricate metals and dielectrics nanostructures (< 20 nm) and even complex 3-dimensional structures on arbitrary surfaces will break new ground for the customdesign of NIL master stamps. This globally unique technology will gain Austria a sustainable technological advantage of global relevance in the 5 billion US$ global market. The consortium aims to achieve the development of this leading edge nanoprocessing technology by adressing the overall goal in following sub-objectives: New Materials: Evaluate ultrathin material layers (Ni, Ni-Fe, Mg, Al, W, Ta) as hardmask for charged particle beam patterning New Processes: Gain process expertise on the deposition and etching of pure (>90%) materials and 3-D nanostructures (Deposit sub-20nm structures with 1:3 aspect ratios) New Instrument: Add gas injection capabilities to an existing projection maskless patterning (PMLP) tool using ion/electron multibeam for NIL-stamp patterning by etching or deposition New Systems: Optimize the suitability of charged particle beam fabricated NIL stamps for commercial imprint tools and resists enabling the immediate application. This manufacturing technique is considered as industrial breakthrough because: - Nanostructures smaller than 20 nm feature size can be directly fabricated - Maskless, resistless fabrication within a single process step increases through-put - 3-dimensional complex structures with arbitrary geometries can be fabricated - Computer-aided Design and Rapid prototyping of NIL stamps becomes feasible - Repair of defect NIL stamp increases reusability - High volume production system for custom-designed NIL-stamps - 90% Reduced Time-to-Market for small-lot production of NIL stamps - 70% Reduced Cost-to-market by immediate availability of NIL-stamps Focused charged particle beams with beam diameters in the sub-5 nm range will be used for precursor-gas assisted etching and gas assisted deposition on the nanoscale. Charged Particlebeam nano-Patterning (CP2) can be used to fabricate master stamps in a large variety of materials, including metal and quartz. Beam induced deposition of material ¿ also on non-flat substrates ¿ may provide individually-designed hardmasks for subsequent etching of nanostructures. NIL stamps as used by EVG for UV-NIL may fabricated with 3-dimensional structures and high-aspect features. The direct-patterning approach is also suitable for repair or smart modification of NIL stamps. Both charged particle beam patterning (CP2) and nanoimprint lithography (NIL) are manufacturing techniques leveraging multiple nanotechnology applications in electronics, optoelectronics, data storage, microfluidics, biosensors and energy storage. This key-enabling technology aims at giving Austria a lead among competitors in the field of NIL stamp fabrication technology. The 4 industrial partners participating represent the entire value chain from stamp manufacturer to stamp user and assure the rapid implementation of this technology. The involvement of potential users within the NILaustria consortium will bring forth a fast application of directly patterned stamps. Austria as pacesetter for this new technology will benefit from the increased profitability of this manufacturing technology and the added value of the devices produced. Direct stamp fabrication by charged particle beams will position Austria as global leader with this enabling key-technology for NIL stamps.