Widely Tunable Morphologies in Block Copolymer Thin Films Through Solvent Vapor Annealing Using Mixtures of Selective Solvents.

ABSTRACT: Thin films of block copolymers are extremely attractive for nanofabrication because of their ability to form uniform and periodic nanoscale structures by microphase separation. One shortcoming of this approach is that to date the design of a desired equilibrium structure requires synthesis of a block copolymer de novo within the corresponding volume ratio of the blocks. In this work, we investigated solvent vapor annealing in supported thin films of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) [PHEMA-b-PMMA] by means of grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). A spin-coated thin film of lamellar block copolymer was solvent vapor annealed to induce microphase separation and improve the long-range order of the self-assembled pattern.

SUBMITTER: Chavis MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4724432 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature