Issue 21, 2018

Hierarchical nanopores formed by block copolymer lithography on the surfaces of different materials pre-patterned by nanosphere lithography

Abstract

Bottom-up patterning techniques allow for the creation of surfaces with ordered arrays of nanoscale features on large areas. Two bottom-up techniques suitable for the formation of regular nanopatterns on different length scales are nanosphere lithography (NSL) and block copolymer (BCP) lithography. In this paper it is shown that NSL and BCP lithography can be combined to easily design hierarchically nanopatterned surfaces of different materials. Nanosphere lithography is used for the pre-patterning of surfaces with antidots, i.e. hexagonally arranged cylindrical holes in thin films of Au, Pt and TiO2 on SiO2, providing a periodic chemical and topographical contrast on the surface suitable for templating in subsequent BCP lithography. PS-b-PMMA BCP is used in the second self-assembly step to form hexagonally arranged nanopores with sub-20 nm diameter within the antidots upon microphase separation. To achieve this the microphase separation of BCP on planar surfaces is studied, too, and it is demonstrated for the first time that vertical BCP nanopores can be formed on TiO2, Au and Pt films without using any neutralization layers. To explain this the influence of surface energy, polarity and roughness on the microphase separation is investigated and discussed along with the wetting state of BCP on NSL-pre-patterned surfaces. The presented novel route for the creation of advanced hierarchical nanopatterns is easily applicable on large-area surfaces of different materials. This flexibility makes it suitable for a broad range of applications, from the morphological design of biocompatible surfaces for life science to complex pre-patterns for nanoparticle placement in semiconductor technology.

Graphical abstract: Hierarchical nanopores formed by block copolymer lithography on the surfaces of different materials pre-patterned by nanosphere lithography

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Feb 2018
Accepted
24 Apr 2018
First published
25 Apr 2018

Nanoscale, 2018,10, 10005-10017

Hierarchical nanopores formed by block copolymer lithography on the surfaces of different materials pre-patterned by nanosphere lithography

K. Brassat, D. Kool, J. Bürger and J. K. N. Lindner, Nanoscale, 2018, 10, 10005 DOI: 10.1039/C8NR01397G

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements