Morphology of Lamellae-Forming Block Copolymer Films between Two Orthogonal Chemically Nanopatterned Striped Surfaces

Liu, Guoliang; Ramírez-Hernández, Abelardo; Yoshida, Hiroshi; Nygård, Kim; Satapathy, Dillip K.; Bunk, Oliver; Pablo, Juan J. de; Nealey, Paul F.

doi:10.1103/physrevlett.108.065502

Cited by 36 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 34 publications

(33 reference statements)

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“…2j) with two layers of cylinders versus cross-linked structure (SC b // , Fig. 52 Nevertheless, the morphologies SC b // and SC 2b // are first observed in our simulation work. 2m) with one layer of a sphere and one layer (or two layers) of a cylinder.…”

Section: Lateral Periodicity Of the Substrate Lmentioning

confidence: 54%

Hierarchical nanostructures of diblock copolymer thin films directed by a saw-toothed substrate

Peng¹,

Ma²,

Hu³

et al. 2015

Soft Matter

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An extensive and systematic calculation was performed to explore hierarchical cylindrical structures and the order-to-order transitions of AB diblock copolymers (f(A) = 0.3) on a saw-toothed substrate using self-consistent mean-field theory. We obtained fifteen relatively simple morphologies, including the existing morphologies observed experimentally and from simulations, and five more complicated structures, by varying the lateral periodicity of the substrate, the film thickness of diblock copolymers, the interaction between the A-block and the substrate and the tilt angles (or the shape) of the substrate. These structures show that the orientation and number of layers of cylinders can be tailored. Even lamellae and spherical microdomains were observed. Most interestingly, hierarchical structures are also observed, such as the morphology of C(ab)(//) within the upper cylinder perpendicular to the bottom cylinder, SC(b)(//) morphology that the upper is a cylinder but the bottom is a sphere. In addition, we discussed these complex hierarchical structures in detail and have analyzed the order-to-order transitions between the cylindrical morphologies with distinct orientations and layers.

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Section: Lateral Periodicity Of the Substrate Lmentioning

confidence: 54%

Hierarchical nanostructures of diblock copolymer thin films directed by a saw-toothed substrate

Peng¹,

Ma²,

Hu³

et al. 2015

Soft Matter

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“…The ability of block copolymers to assemble into ordered morphologies has been studied extensively, both in the bulk and in thin films . For a variety of applications, it is of interest to generate defect‐free ordered structures; this can be achieved through graphoepitaxy, chemical epitaxy, and posts . In the area of semiconductor device manufacturing, recent efforts have focused on the use of block polymers in hole shrinking processes, in which thin interconnects are created by filling a relatively wide hole with a cylinder‐forming polymeric material, whose characteristic dimensions are considerably smaller than those of the confining hole.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphoepitaxial assembly of cylinder forming block copolymers in cylindrical holes

Peters

Rathsack²,

Somervell³

et al. 2014

J. Polym. Sci. Part B: Polym. Phys.

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The graphoepitaxial assembly of cylinder-forming block copolymers assembled into holes is investigated through theoretically informed coarse grained Monte Carlo simulations (TICG MC). The aim is to identify conditions leading to assembly of cylinders that span the entire thickness of the holes, thereby enabling applications in lithography. Three hole geometries are considered, including cylinders, elliptical cylinders, and capsule-shaped holes. Four distinct morphologies of cylinder forming poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) block copolymers are observed in cylinders and elliptical holes, including cylinders, spheres, partial cylinders, and wall-bound cylinders. Additional morphologies are observed in capsuleshaped holes. PMMA cylinders that extend through the entire hole are found with PMMA-wetting surfaces; a weak wetting condition is needed on the bottom of the hole and a strong wetting condition is necessary on the sides of the hole. Simu-lated are also used to explore the morphologies that arise when holes are overfilled, or when PMMA homopolymers are added in blends with copolymers. We find that overfilling can alter considerably the morphological behavior of copolymers in cylinders and, for blends; we find that when the homopolymer concentration is >10%, the range of conditions for formation of PMMA cylinders that extend through the entire hole is increased. In general, results from simulations (TICG) are shown to be comparable to those of self-consistent (SCFT) calculations, except for conditions where fluctuations become important.identifying the conditions leading to formation of ideal cylinders that span the entire thickness of the confining hole. In this work, we use simulations to identify such conditions. Graphoepitaxy relies on topography to guide the assembly of block copolymers. Segalman et al. [8][9][10][11] used primarily poly (styrene-b-2vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) sphere forming block copolymers. Work by Cheng et al. 20,21 considered poly(styrene-b-ferrocenylsilane) (PS-b-PFS) sphere-forming diblock copolymers. One important outcome of that work was to show that defects in the confining walls can have a pronounced influence in the resulting morphology, and give rise to defective microdomains. 22 Lamellar-forming poly(styrene-b-ethyl-alt-propylene) (PS-b-PEP) block copolymers have also been assembled in trenches under preferential wetting of the PS, 23,24 and Hammond andThis article was published online on 16 December 2014. An error was subsequently identified. This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that it has been corrected 31 January 2015.

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“…Moreover, the location of the transition and its order can be controlled by purely geometric characteristics, the twist angle of the patterns and film thickness, respectively. The morphology of the film and the location of the interface is accessibly by SAXS experiments [15], and we hope that our predictions be confirmed experimentally.…”

mentioning

confidence: 54%

“…Recently, the morphology of copolymer films confined between two surfaces with orthogonal stripe patterns has been studied by experiment and simulation [14,15]. The copolymer replicates the stripe pattern at the respective surface, and the orthogonally oriented lamellar domains meet around the center of the film forming an interface (twist grain boundary) that resembles Scherk's first minimal surface.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The knowledge of thermodynamic equilibrium morphologies is an indispensable prerequisite for studying the kinetics of structure formation and transformation, which may be protracted in experiments [15]. The kinetics can play an important role in the localization of the interface: if one chemical pattern starts the nucleation faster than the other, then the grain induced by the first one is going to be larger than the second one and, initially, the interface is going to be located near the second surface [15].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Geometry-Controlled Interface Localization-Delocalization Transition in Block Copolymers

Müller

2012

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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Lamellar copolymers confined into a film of thickness D by two stripe-patterned surfaces, which are rotated against each other by a twist angle α, form lamellar domains that register and align with the respective chemical surface patterns. The two domains of thickness x and D-x are separated by an interface that resembles a twist grain boundary. At small twist angles α or strong selectivity of the surface patterns, this interface fluctuates around the middle of the film, x≈D/2, while the interface is localized at one of the surfaces, x≈0 or x≈D, in the opposite limit. These two morphologies are separated by an interface localization-delocalization transition (ILDT) that can be controlled by the twist angle α. For thin films, we find a second-order ILDT while the ILDT is first-order for large D values. A phenomenological interface Hamiltonian is used to relate the findings to the ILDT of symmetric mixtures, and the predictions are confirmed by molecular simulation.

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Morphology of Lamellae-Forming Block Copolymer Films between Two Orthogonal Chemically Nanopatterned Striped Surfaces

Cited by 36 publications

References 34 publications

Hierarchical nanostructures of diblock copolymer thin films directed by a saw-toothed substrate

Hierarchical nanostructures of diblock copolymer thin films directed by a saw-toothed substrate

Graphoepitaxial assembly of cylinder forming block copolymers in cylindrical holes

Geometry-Controlled Interface Localization-Delocalization Transition in Block Copolymers

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