Vacuum-Driven Orientation of Nanostructured Diblock Copolymer Thin Films.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35905494.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1021/acsnano.2c04368.
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Abstract
This work aims to demonstrate a facile method for the controlled orientation of nanostructures of block copolymer (BCP) thin films. A simple diblock copolymer system, polystyrene-<i>block</i>-polydimethylsiloxane (PS-<i>b</i>-PDMS), is chosen to demonstrate vacuum-driven orientation for solving the notorious low-surface-energy problem of silicon-based BCP nanopatterning. By taking advantage of the pressure dependence of the surface tension of polymeric materials, a neutral air surface for the PS-<i>b</i>-PDMS thin film can be formed under a high vacuum degree (∼10<sup>-4</sup> Pa), allowing the formation of the film-spanning perpendicular cylinders and lamellae upon thermal annealing. In contrast to perpendicular lamellae, a long-range lateral order for forming perpendicular cylinders can be efficiently achieved through the self-alignment mechanism for induced ordering from the top and bottom of the free-standing thin film.