Hot Embossing is a replication technique used to produce many plastic copies from a moulding tool (master) fabricated through standard micromachining processes. It is specially adapted for low volume, low cost production or R&D activities.

Many thermoplastics can be used for hot embossing, such as PMMA, PC, PE, COC, COP, PS, PVDF, ...

High aspect ratios with lateral resolution down to 0,1 um can be obtained.

In the hot embossing a microstructured master is firmly pressed into a thermoplastic substrate under vacuum conditions. The tool and the thermoplastic are heated separately to a temperature just above the glass transition temperature of the polymer (80°C to 170°C usually). The tool is then pressed into the thermoplastic for few minutes and removed after cooling.

Our equipment is the HEX01 hot embossing solution from JENOPTIK Mikrotechnik designed for applications in the emerging fields of micro-optics, microfluidics, smart materials and electronics subcomponents. It ensures highly precise moulding of any structures in polymers, especially microstructures with aggressive aspect ratio (up to 150:1). This is the easiest way to replicate a micro or nanostructured and expensive mould into a more useful and cheaper polymeric material.