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PUBLICATIONS

Temperature Effects on Surface Pattern Formation in Thin Block Copolymer Films

Published

Author(s)

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

Abstract

Hole formation on the surface of thin films of symmetric diblock copolymers is investigated as a function of time, t, temperature, T, and film thickness, h. The size of the holes approaches a steady state value at long times and their long-time size is found to increase with increasing T. A simple model of the hole growth kinetics is introduced to describe these observations. In addition, the characteristic time governing the rate of approach to the long time staionary pattern limit is observed to first decrease and then increase with increasing T. These observations suggest a critical slowing down of the equilibration of the film to its steady state and a reduction of the surface elasticity k of the outer block copolymer layer with increasing temperature, effects interpreted to arise from thermal fluctuations associated with the disordering transition.
Citation
Langmuir
Pub Type
Journals

Keywords

block copolymers, combinatoric study, diffusive growth, films, kinetics, pattern formation, surface patterns, temperature effects

Citation

Smith, A. , Douglas, J. , Amis, E. and Karim, A. (2021), Temperature Effects on Surface Pattern Formation in Thin Block Copolymer Films, Langmuir (Accessed November 30, 2021)

Created October 12, 2021