Borah, D.; Rassapa, S.; Shaw, M. T.; Hobbs, R. G.; Petkov, N.; Schmidt, M.; Holmes, J. D.; Morris, M. A.

2013

March

Journal of Materials Chemistry C

Directed self-assembly of PS-b-PMMA block copolymer using HSQ lines for translational alignment

Published

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We report here the graphoepitaxial alignment of a lamellar forming PS-b-PMMA block copolymer (BCP) for directed self-assembly using topographical patterns (simple line structures) of hydrogen silsesquioxane (HSQ). The system demonstrates the importance of the sidewall chemistry on translational alignment of BCP domains. A method was developed where a silicon substrate was precoated with a hydroxylterminated random copolymer brush of PS-r-PMMA prior to the HSQ feature formation process. The brush ordains the vertical (to the substrate plane) alignment of the BCP lamellar microdomains. Translational BCP alignment is a result of PMMA selectively wetting the HSQ. The formed BCP pattern was selectively etched to remove the PMMA domain allowing direct imaging and to demonstrate capability in forming an on-chip mask.

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/journals/journalissues/tc

10.1039/c2tc00289b