Observation of surface corrugation-induced alignment of lamellar microdomains in PS-b-PMMA thin films

Abstract

We report lateral alignment of lamellar microdomains in thin films of poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) on corrugated surfaces where surface energy is controlled as non-selective to PS and PMMA by anchoring polymer brushes of a random copolymer of PS and PMMA. The orientational order determined by Herman's orientation function indicates that the lamellae align perpendicular to the direction of surface corrugation within a window of surface corrugation length scales used in this study. The effect of relative scales of periodicity and film thickness of PS-b-PMMA to those of surface corrugation on the alignment of lamellae is discussed in this paper.