High temporal resolution measurement of the curing process of nanometer-thick photocurable liquid films using the fiber wobbling method

Abstract We established a method for assessing the curing process of a nanometer-thick photocurable liquid film by monitoring changes in shear viscoelasticity at a high temporal resolution. The originally developed nano-rheometry method (the fiber wobbling method) was applied for the viscoelastic measurements. We succeeded in measuring the curing process of a 100 nm thick liquid film with a time resolution of 1 ms. The experimental results suggested that the confinement effect in the nanogap suppresses liquid curing. Thus, the proposed evaluation method can be used for developing nanoimprint lithography and high-precision 3D printing.