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Surface-induced structure formation of polymer blends on patterned substrates

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Abstract

Phase separation in bulk mixtures commonly leads to an isotropic, disordered morphology of the coexisting phases1. The presence of a surface can significantly alter the phase-separation process, however2,3. Here we show that the domains of a phase-separating mixture of polymers in a thin film can be guided into arbitrary structures by a surface with a prepatterned variation of surface energies. Such a pattern can be imposed on a surface by using printing methods for depositing microstructured molecular films4, thereby allowing for such patterns to be readily transferred to a two-component polymer film. This approach might provide a simple means for fabricating polymer-based microelectronic circuits5 or polymer resists for lithographic semiconductor processing.

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Figure 1: AFM images (50 × 50 µm2) of a PS/PVP blend (50%:50% w/w) spun-cast from a tetrahydrofurane (THF) solution (1.5% polymer by weight) onto a Au surface (50 nm of Au evaporated onto a silicon oxide surface).
Figure 2: The same PS/PVP blend as in Fig. 1, spun-cast on a patterned Au substrate.The lateral surface pattern was created by microcontact printing, whereby a polydimethyl-siloxane stamp is soaked in a octacedyl mercaptan solution and placed onto a Au surface.
Figure 3: Films of PS and PSBr (50:50% w/w) spun-cast from toluene solution (2–4% by weight) onto a patterned silicon wafer which features alternating stripes of oxidized (SiOx) and hydrogen-terminated silicon (SiH).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (DFG), the Volkswagenstiftung, and NATO. U.S. acknowledges the financial support from a research fellowship (Habilitations-Stipendum) of the DFG. We thank E. J. Kramer and J. Heier for their help preparing the PDMS stamps.

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  1. Georg Krausch

    Present address: Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Ludwig Maximilians Universität München, Theresienstrasse 39, 80333, München, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fakultt für Physik, Universität Konstanz, 78457, Konstanz, Germany

    Martin Böltau, Stefan Walheim, Jürgen Mlynek, Georg Krausch & Ullrich Steiner

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  1. Martin Böltau
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  2. Stefan Walheim
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  3. Jürgen Mlynek
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  4. Georg Krausch
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  5. Ullrich Steiner
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Correspondence to Ullrich Steiner.

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Böltau, M., Walheim, S., Mlynek, J. et al. Surface-induced structure formation of polymer blends on patterned substrates. Nature 391, 877–879 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/36075

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