Micromolding of pb and zn with surface engineered LiGA mold inserts

Molding of Ph and Zn metal plates with LiGA (Lithographie, Galvanoformung, Abformung) fabricated Ni micro-scale mold inserts was carried out with as fabricated Ni inserts and Ni inserts conformally coated with Ti-containing hydrocarbon (Ti-C:H) coatings. The molding performance was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), in terms of the generated features on the metal plates as well as the inserts condition after molding. The present results demonstrate that, in cases where significant metal/insert chemical interactions exist, surface modification of the mold insert is necessary to obtain satisfactory performance. Furthermore, conformal deposition of suitable engineered ceramic coatings onto Ni micro-scale mold inserts is effective for high temperature micromolding of reactive metals.