Lamellar Diblock Copolymers on Rough Substrates: Self-Consistent Field Theory Studies

Man, Xingkun; Tang, Jialiang; Zhou, Pan; Yan, Dadong; Andelman, David

doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01362

Cited by 18 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…On the theoretical side [33][34][35][36][37][38], previous works have been mainly devoted to study the transition between parallel to perpendicular lamellar phases in presence of a substrate. Most of these studies have been done in two dimensions and cannot address the important experimental issues related to inplane alignment, which intrinsically requires a 3D study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defect-Free Perpendicular Diblock Copolymer Films: The Synergy Effect of Surface Topography and Chemistry

Man¹,

Zhou

Tang³

et al. 2016

Macromolecules

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We propose a direct self-assembly mechanism towards obtaining defect-free perpendicular lamellar phases of diblock copolymer (BCP) thin films. In our numerical study, a thin BCP film having a flat top surface is casted on a uni-directional corrugated solid substrate. The substrate is treated chemically and has a weak preference toward one of the two BCP components. Employing self-consistent field theory (SCFT), we find that there is an enhanced synergy between two substrate characteristics: its topography (geometrical roughness) combined with a weak surface preference. This synergy produces the desired perpendicular lamellar phase with perfect inplane ordering. Defect-free BCP lamellar phases are reproducible for several random initial states, and are obtained for a range of substrate roughness and chemical characteristics, even for a uni-directional multi-mode substrate roughness. Our theoretical study suggests possible experiments that will explore the interplay between uni-directional substrate corrugation and chemical surface treatment. It may lead to viable and economical ways of obtaining BCP films with defect-free lateral alignment.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Defect-Free Perpendicular Diblock Copolymer Films: The Synergy Effect of Surface Topography and Chemistry

Man¹,

Zhou

Tang³

et al. 2016

Macromolecules

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“…Figure 4 shows the phase transition between perpendicular and parallel orientations (C ⊥ -to-C ), and between the two parallel orientations themselves (C 2 -to-C 1 ) in terms of the substrate roughness, 2πR/L s , and the substrate preference, u. In previous studies, 29 it has been shown that there are two ways to change the substrate roughness. First we fix the L s = 3L a 0 and then change the amplitude R from 0.1 to 0.3, as shown in Fig- ures 4a and 4b.…”

Section: A the Unidirectional Substrate Corrugation Along The A-direc...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is consistent with the results shown in Figure 4, and also with previous studies. 21,29,30 B. The unidirectional substrate corrugation along the b-direction…”

Section: A the Unidirectional Substrate Corrugation Along The A-direc...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Man et al 29,30 systematically studied the self-assembly of lamellar forming BCP thin film on a sinusoidal substrate, and showed an enhanced synergy between substrate topography combined with a weak surface preference to obtain defect-free perpendicular lamellar BCP thin films. Recently, Carpenter et al 31 presented a study combining SCFT calculations with experimental results, and found that the orientation of cylinders with respect to the trench depends on the commensurability of the BCP hexagonal packing with the substrate characteristic length and film thickness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of Sinusoidal Surface Roughness and Energy on the Orientation of Cylinder-Forming Block Copolymer Thin Films

Zhu,

Aissou,

Andelman

et al. 2018

Preprint

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We explore the relative stability of three possible orientations of cylinder-forming di-block copolymer on a sinusoidally corrugated substrate. The cylinders can be aligned either parallel to the substrate, with their long axis being oriented along or orthogonal to the corrugation trenches, or perpendicular to the substrate. Using self-consistent field theory, we investigate the influence of substrate roughness and surface preference on the phase transition between the three orientations. When the substrate preference, u, towards one of components is small, increasing the substrate roughness induces a phase transition from parallel to perpendicular cylindrical phase. However, when u is large, the parallel orientation is more stable than the perpendicular one. Within this parallel phase, increasing the substrate roughness leads to a transition of cylinder orientation changing from being orthogonal to parallel to the trench long axis. Increasing the substrate preference leads to an opposite transition from parallel to orthogonal to the trenches. Furthermore, we predict that the perpendicular cylinder phase is easier to be obtained when the unidirectional corrugation is along the longer unit vector of the hexagonal packing than when it is along the shorter unit vector. Our results qualitatively agree with previous experiments, and contribute towards applications of the cylinder-forming block copolymer in nanotechnology.

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“…Taking advantage of the dielectric constant difference of each block, orientation control of the BCP self-assembly can also be achieved by applying an external electric field, although it is generally limited to BCP films with micrometre-scale thickness 17 18 . In addition, surface topology modulation 19 20 , solvent annealing 21 22 and other methods 23 24 have also been proposed to control BCP microdomain orientation. Besides the perpendicular orientation, controlled BCP self-assembly with lateral order and localized nanostructures 25 26 27 28 is also necessary in practical lithography processes to realize pattern registration and addressable device-oriented patterns with low defects 29 30 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Directed block copolymer self-assembly implemented via surface-embedded electrets

Wang

Wan

2016

Nat Commun

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Block copolymer (BCP) nanolithography is widely recognized as a promising complementary approach to circumvent the feature size limits of conventional photolithography. The directed self-assembly of BCP thin film to form ordered nanostructures with controlled orientation and localized pattern has been the key challenge for practical nanolithography applications. Here we show that BCP nanopatterns can be directed on localized surface electrets defined by electron-beam irradiation to realize diverse features in a simple, effective and non-destructive manner. Charged electrets can generate a built-in electric field in BCP thin film and induce the formation of perpendicularly oriented microdomain of BCP film. The electret-directed orientation control of BCP film can be either integrated with mask-based patterning technique or realized by electron-beam direct-writing method to fabricate microscale arbitrary lateral patterns down to single BCP cylinder nanopattern. The electret-directed BCP self-assembly could provide an alternative means for BCP-based nanolithography, with high resolution.

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Lamellar Diblock Copolymers on Rough Substrates: Self-Consistent Field Theory Studies

Cited by 18 publications

References 38 publications

Defect-Free Perpendicular Diblock Copolymer Films: The Synergy Effect of Surface Topography and Chemistry

Defect-Free Perpendicular Diblock Copolymer Films: The Synergy Effect of Surface Topography and Chemistry

Effect of Sinusoidal Surface Roughness and Energy on the Orientation of Cylinder-Forming Block Copolymer Thin Films

Directed block copolymer self-assembly implemented via surface-embedded electrets

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