Robust control over morphologies and grain interfaces of three-dimensional well-ordered superstructures programmed by hybrid topographical-chemical templates

Abstract

It is an extremely challenging task to construct three-dimensional (3D) well-ordered superstructures with controllable morphologies and predictable internal components. Using computational modeling, we conceive and demonstrate a novel class of templates with topographically and chemically patterned surfaces for directing the self-assembly of symmetric block copolymers. Large-cell simulations of self-consistent field theory corroborate that 3D sophisticated structures of vertical lamellae with different in-plane orientations are achieved and the placements of grain interfaces are regulated by post height and commensurability conditions. Notably, non-orthogonally crossed structures are created by simply modulating the periodicities of post arrays. This work may provide a novel route for experimentalists to fabricate 3D long-range ordered structures with tunable local characteristics.