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Title: Ordering of lamellar block copolymers on oxidized silane coatings

Journal Article · · European Polymer Journal
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Houston, Houston, TX (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Thin films of lamellar poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-PMMA) block copolymers are widely investigated for surface patterning. These materials can generate dense arrays of nanoscale lines when the lamellar domains are oriented perpendicular to the substrate. To stabilize this preferred domain orientation, we tuned the substrate surface energy using oxidation of hydrophobic silane coatings. This simple approach is effective for a broad range of PS-PMMA film thicknesses when the oxidation time is optimized, which demonstrates that the substrate coating is energetically neutral with respect to PS and PMMA segments. The lamellar films are characterized by high densities of defects that exhibit a strong dependence on film thickness: in-plane topological defects disrupt the lateral order in ultrathin films, while lamellar domains in thick films can bend and tilt to large misorientation angles. As a result, the types and densities of these defects are similar to those observed with other classes of neutral substrate coatings, such as random copolymer brushes, which demonstrates that oxidized silanes can be used to control PS-PMMA self assembly in thin films.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; DMR-1151468
OSTI ID:
1338963
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1341127
Journal Information:
European Polymer Journal, Vol. 75, Issue C; ISSN 0014-3057
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 2 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • Stein, Gila E.; Mahadevapuram, Nikhila; Mitra, Indranil
  • Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics, Vol. 53, Issue 2, p. 96-102 https://doi.org/10.1002/polb.23502
journal May 2014

Cited By (1)

Rapid ordering of block copolymer thin films journal August 2016