Self-assembly of block copolymers on lithographically patterned template with ordered posts

Abstract

Dissipative particle dynamics simulations are employed to study the self-assembly of block copolymers on a template modified with ordered posts. Templates with hexagonally arranged and rectangularly arranged posts are both studied. For the systems with hexagonally arranged posts, morphologies with bending alignments are seen most often. We find that the different kinds of patterns, which can be directly observed in experiments, are substantially induced by the pattern of the bottom layer. In the simulations with a template modified with rectangularly arranged posts, by finely adjusting the distances between neighboring posts in both x and y directions, mesh-shaped structures with different angles between the bottom and the sub-bottom layers can be obtained. These results shed light on the better design of lithographically patterned materials on the scale of 10 nm via the directed self-assembly of BCPs by templating.