Characterization of Symmetric Diblock Copolymers With High-Throughput Techniques

Published

April 1, 2001

Author(s)

Alamgir Karim, A P. Smith, Jack F. Douglas, Eric J. Amis

Abstract

Surface pattern formation in thin block copolymer films is investigated utilizing a high-throughput methodology by creating films having gradients in film thickness. We observe a succession of surface patterns that repeat cyclically across the film with increasing thickness. The combinatorial study led to the discovery of novel features such as extended smooth regions and labyrinthine patterns for the first time. These patterns occur as bands that are quantized by integral multiples of the bulk lamellar period, Lo. The average size of the spinodal patterns, 1, is found to scale as 1 ~ 2.5, or 1 ~ M - 1.5. The hole and island features observed have a size comparable to 1. Smooth regions are attributed to chain extension and an increase in surface chain density in the outer brush-like block copolymer layer with increasing thickness. The reduction of feature size with increasing M is interpreted in terms of increasing surface rigidity.

Citation

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Volume

221

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

block copolymer ordering, combinatorial experiment, surface pattern formation, surface rigidity

Citation

Karim, A. , Smith, A. , Douglas, J. and Amis, E. (2001), Characterization of Symmetric Diblock Copolymers With High-Throughput Techniques, Journal of the American Chemical Society, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851826 (Accessed December 5, 2024)