Ionic Liquids as Additives to Polystyrene-Block-Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Enabling Directed Self-Assembly of Patterns with Sub-10 nm Features

Chen, Xuanxuan; Zhou, Chun; Chen, Shuang-Jun; Craig, Gordon S.  W.; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina; Dazai, Takahiro; Miyagi, Ken; Maehashi, Takaya; Yamazaki, Akiyoshi; Gronheid, Roel; Stoykovich, Mark P.; Nealey, Paul F.

doi:10.1021/acsami.8b02990

Ionic Liquids as Additives to Polystyrene-Block-Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Enabling Directed Self-Assembly of Patterns with Sub-10 nm Features

Journal Article · Wed Apr 18 04:00:00 EDT 2018 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b02990· OSTI ID:1462713

^[1]; Zhou, Chun ^[2]; Chen, Shuang-Jun ^[3]; Craig, Gordon S. W. ^[2]; Rincon-Delgadillo, Paulina ^[4]; Dazai, Takahiro ^[5]; Miyagi, Ken ^[5]; Maehashi, Takaya ^[5]; Yamazaki, Akiyoshi ^[5]; Gronheid, Roel ^[4]; Stoykovich, Mark P. ^[2]; ^[6]

Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States; IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Technology, 5 Xin Mo Fan Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China
IMEC, Kapeldreef 75, Leuven B-3001, Belgium
Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, 1590 Tabata, Samukawa-Machi, Koza-Gun, Kanagawa 253-0114, Japan
Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, 5640 S Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States; Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States

Polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) is one of the prototypical block copolymers in directed self-assembly (DSA) research and development, with standardized protocols in place for processing on industrially relevant 300 mm wafers. Scaling of DSA patterns to pitches below 20 nm using PS-b-PMMA, however, is hindered by the relatively low Flory–Huggins interaction parameter, $$χ$$. In this work, we investigate the approach of adding small amounts of ionic liquids (ILs) into PS-b-PMMA, which selectively segregates into the PMMA domain and effectively increases the $$χ$$ parameter and thus the pattern resolution. The amount of IL additive is small enough to result in limited changes in PS-b-PMMA’s surface and interfacial properties, thus maintaining industry-friendly processing by thermal annealing with a free surface. Three different ILs are studied comparatively regarding their compositional process window, capability of increasing $$χ$$, and thermal stability. By adding ~3.1 vol % of the champion IL into a low-molecular-weight PS-b-PMMA (M_n = 10.3k-b-9.5k), we demonstrated DSA on chemically patterned substrates of lamellar structures with feature sizes <8.5 nm. Compatibility of the PS-b-PMMMA/IL blends with the standardized processes that have been previously developed suggests that such blend materials could provide a drop-in solution for sub-10 nm lithography with the processing advantages of PS-b-PMMA.

Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

DOE Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357

OSTI ID:: 1462713

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Journal Issue: 19 Vol. 10; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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