Robust fabrication of double-ring mushroom structure for reliable omniphobic surfaces

Abstract

This paper presents a novel fabrication method for an unusual cylindrical double-ring mushroom structure (DMS). By using a conventional lithography process, a stable microstructure with omniphobic properties was constructed without additional chemical surface treatment with superior structural characteristics. The novelty of this DMS fabrication is demonstrated through footing effect errors that could occur during the silicon master fabrication process and demolding errors that could occur during the polymer replica process. The excellent omniphobic property of DMS is also demonstrated through a wettability test with comparisons of structures of similar dimension, and it exhibited strong resistance to contamination through comparative experiments of transmittance. As a result, thanks to low-cost fabrication method which does not require additional chemical treatment, our outstanding results with polymeric DMS surfaces are expected to affect various application fields.