Monitoring Thermally Induced Cylindrical Microphase Separation of Polystyrene-<i>block</i>-poly(methyl methacrylate) by Atomic Force Microscopy

Abstract

Thermally induced growth of cylindrical microphase separation was observed for polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) thin films on native oxide silicon substrates unmodified and modified with hydroxy-terminated polystyrene (PS-OH) by atomic force microscopy in dynamic force mode. The degrees of long-range order of the cylindrical microphase separation structures were investigated using the correlation length values. The correlation length became constant over 30 seconds regardless of the kind of substrates, while the PS-OH modified substrate caused a longer correlation length and a shorter closely packed periodicity in the cylindrical microphase separation than the bare silicon substrate did.