Fabrication of substrates with extended nanostructured surface areas for wetting studies

We have developed a fabrication methodology that relies on nanoimprint lithography (NIL), wet etching (Buffered Oxide Etch solution) and plasma etching in an Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP); with our process we are able to pattern extended surface areas of about 1 cm(2) with an array of rectangular channels or hemispherical holes of nanometric size. The fabricated samples are used in adsorption experiments to test recent theoretical predictions concerning the capillary condensation in capped capillaries. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.