80 K Cryogenic Stage for Ice Lithography

We present a cryogenic system design and development for ice lithography. The cryo-stage is designed with embedded channels to allow direct liquid nitrogen flow, enabling fast cryogenic cooling, and low sample temperature. The stage cools down to 78.8 K in 20 min and heats up to room temperature in 15 min, which increases throughput significantly. Compared to the previous designs, the new system reduces cooling time by 85%, and it is 50 K colder. The cryo-stage is fabricated using copper, aluminum, and polyether ether ketone (PEEK) polymer. Numerical simulations show that the thermal stress on the cryo-stage during the cooling process remains well below stage materials' mechanical yield limits. Finally, the lower stage temperature enables us to explore new precursors, materials, and applications, which we demonstrate by combining ice lithography with printed flexible electronics technology.