Macromolecules, 39 (10), 3598 -3607, 2006. 10.1021/ma052335c S0024-9297(05)02335-1
Web Release Date: April 13, 2006

Copyright © 2006 American Chemical Society

Long-Range Order and Orientation of Cylinder-Forming Block Copolymers on Chemically Nanopatterned Striped Surfaces

Erik W. Edwards, Mark P. Stoykovich, Harun H. Solak, and Paul F. Nealey*

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and Center for Nanotechnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, and Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen/PSI, Switzerland CH-5232

Received November 1, 2005

Revised Manuscript Received February 28, 2006

Abstract:

Cylinder-forming poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) thin films were directed to assemble on chemically nanopatterned surfaces consisting of alternating stripes that were preferentially wet by the two blocks of the copolymer. The cylindrical domains oriented in the plane of the film and formed defect-free periodic arrays over large areas in registration with the underlying chemical surface pattern if three constraints were satisfied: the substrate pattern period (LS) was commensurate with the bulk intercylinder period of the block copolymer (LO), the initial film thickness was quantized with respect to the thickness of a half layer (L/2) or single layer of cylinders (L), and the widths of adjacent stripes of the chemical surface pattern were nearly equal.


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