Thermal imprint into polymer layers that are thin compared to the pattern height allows for imprints with extremely low and uniform residual layers where lift-off works without previous dry etching. The authors report about possible restrictions of this method such as unintended self-assembling and recovery of polymer underneath the imprinted structures. Both can be attributed to structure size properties and temperature influence and hinder a subsequent successful lift-off. Taking the example of two different temperatures and two different initial layer thicknesses the authors investigate their impact on the resulting structure shape and potential defects. In addition, to qualitatively estimate the residual layer thickness the authors apply lift-off and discuss the results with focus on the usability of this approach as a lithography technique. (c) 2006 American Vacuum Society.