Fabrication of freely suspended nanostructures by nanoimprint lithography

We describe an innovative approach to fabricate freely suspended nanometer-scale structures. In this approach based on nanoimprint lithography, the imprint polymer serves as both the pattern mask and the sacrificial layer. The fabrication involves imprinting the pattern to be suspended upon an existing structure, metallizing the pattern, and removing the excess material. To demonstrate the basics, we have fabricated families of suspended beams. This approach potentially possesses all the desirable aspects of nanoimprint lithography and is suitable for use in simple layer-by-layer fabrication.