How to form regular polymer microstructures by surface-pattern-directed dewetting

Rupture of thin films with resonant substrate patterning

“…In addition to film holes due to surface imperfections seen in experiments such as Stange and Evans [4], organized rupture from deliberately patterned substrates has also been shown. Meyer and Braun [16] and Zhang et al [17][18][19] report "templating" of polystyrene films, while Higgins and Jones [20] and Sehgal et al [21] observe that although substrate anisotropy or patterning may dictate the location and orientation of rupture, the morphological length scale remains close to that of spinodal dewetting on a homogeneous substratetemplating can only occur when the imposed pattern is sizecompatible with spinodal dewetting. The groups of both Sehgal and Zhang [18,19,21] further find that on striped substrates, the rupture location moves from stripe centers to stripe edges as the stripe width increases.…”

The Influence of Cross-Sectional Shape and Orientation of Micropillar Surface on Microdroplet Formation by a Dewetting Process

“…Their results show that the pattern formations were determined by the geometry and morphology of the dewetted polymer films. Zhang, et al [7] researched how to form regular polymer microstructures by dewetting thin polymer film. They disclosed a fast and reproducible process that can pattern thin polymer film at micrometer scale by direct dewetting.…”

Meso-Patterning of Thin Polymer Films by Controlled Dewetting: From Nano-Droplet Arrays to Membranes

“…Replacing the flat substrate with a periodic physically or chemically patterned substrate is a preferred way of aligning the dewetted structures, as emphasized by both experimental [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] as well as theoretical results. [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] Higgin and Jones have experimentally demonstrated that a preferred orientation can be imposed on the dewetting process by simply rubbing the substrate in one direction, leading to well aligned array of droplets.…”

“…13 Han et al have reported the dewetting sequences of thin polystyrene films on chemically and physically patterned surfaces. [14][15][16] Recently, Lee 17 and Han 18 have been successful in directing the dewetted structures by confining the film under a patterned mold. Lee has also demonstrated a lithographic method to obtain low duty ratio patterning on a heterogeneous surface, based on the concept of dewetting of a thin film on a patterned surface.…”