Dynamic Thermal Field-Induced Gradient Soft-Shear for Highly Oriented Block Copolymer Thin Films

Citation

Singh, G.; Yager, K.G.; Berry, B.; Kim, H.-C.; Karim, A. "Dynamic Thermal Field-Induced Gradient Soft-Shear for Highly Oriented Block Copolymer Thin Films" ACS Nano 2012, 6 (11) 10335–10342.
doi: 10.1021/nn304266f

Summary

We study how zone annealing (use of a moving thermal gradient for ordering thin films) can couple to a PDMS capping layer. The spatially inhomogeneous thermal expansion of the capping layer induces shear-alignment forces in the underlying block-copolymer. We demonstrate extremely high levels of ordering as a result.

Abstract

As demand for smaller, more powerful, and energy-efficient devices continues, conventional patterning technologies are pushing up against fundamental limits. Block copolymers (BCPs) are considered prime candidates for a potential solution via directed self-assembly of nanostructures. We introduce here a facile directed self-assembly method to rapidly fabricate unidirectionally aligned BCP nanopatterns at large scale, on rigid or flexible template-free substrates via a thermally induced dynamic gradient soft-shear field. A localized differential thermal expansion at the interface between a BCP film and a confining polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer due to a dynamic thermal field imposes the gradient soft-shear field. PDMS undergoes directional expansion (along the annealing direction) in the heating zone and contracts back in the cooling zone, thus setting up a single cycle of oscillatory shear (maximum lateral shear stress 12 × 104 Pa) in the system. We successfully apply this process to create unidirectional alignment of BCP thin films over a wide range of thicknesses (nm to ?m) and processing speeds (?m/s to mm/s) using both a flat and patterned PDMS layer. Grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering measurements show absolutely no sign of isotropic population and reveal ?99% aligned orientational order with an angular spread ??fwhm ? 5° (full width at half-maximum). This method may pave the way to practical industrial use of hierarchically patterned BCP nanostructures.