Guiding of the phase separation of a block copolymer (BCP) by an electric field perpendicular to the substrate is investigated in order to obtain vertical structures that can provide a mask for subsequent etching. Because of practical aspects, the substrate is bare Si without any neutral brush and the process time is limited to 1 h. A polystyrene-block polymethylmethacrylate lamellar material is employed in the study. For a unique guiding of the lamellar phase, an ordering mechanism orthogonal to the electric field is introduced by the interaction with the stamp in a thermal nanoimprint process. The naturally low surface energy of the stamp shall induce the formation of lamellae along the sidewalls of linear cavities. In order to fully utilize these two ordering mechanisms, the stamp sidewalls and the electric field, the imprint process is conducted in such a way that no residual layer remains below the stamp structures and the whole BCP is accumulated inside the cavities which are just partly filled. The electrically-assisted imprint process is studied analytically, considering the capacitive effects due to the local electric field in the cavity and in particular in the BCP. In addition, a numerical simulation is performed for the actual experimental conditions to compute the electric vector field in the BCP. In this way, an extensive understanding of the situation is gained which is the basis for choosing optimal experimental conditions for electrically-assisted thermal nanoimprint. Furthermore, the ambiguity of the electric field in a thermal nanoimprint process with partly filled cavities is addressed. The field shall induce vertical phase separation but, due to instabilities, it also may induce capillary bridges that represent replication defects. An improvement of the vertical phase separation by applying an electric field as high as 25 V/μm could be identified under specific experimental conditions. However, the guiding effect within the cavities and thus the long-range order of the lamellae remained limited. This may be due to a field strength too low in the BCP; in the present configuration, higher field strengths are prohibited by an electrical breakthrough.
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January 2019
Research Article|
December 12 2018
Electrically-assisted nanoimprint of block copolymers
Andre Mayer;
Andre Mayer
a)
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Wenyang Ai;
Wenyang Ai
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Johannes Rond;
Johannes Rond
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Johannes Staabs;
Johannes Staabs
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Christian Steinberg;
Christian Steinberg
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Marc Papenheim;
Marc Papenheim
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Hella-Christin Scheer;
Hella-Christin Scheer
1
Microstructure Engineering, University of Wuppertal
, D42119 Wuppertal, Germany
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Massimo Tormen;
Massimo Tormen
2
ThunderNIL
, 35131 Padova, Italy
3
IOM-CNR Area Science Park
, 34149 Trieste, Italy
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Alesandro Cian;
Alesandro Cian
2
ThunderNIL
, 35131 Padova, Italy
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Joachim Zajadacz;
Joachim Zajadacz
4
Leibniz Institute of Surface Modification
, D04318 Leipzig, Germany
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Klaus Zimmer
Klaus Zimmer
4
Leibniz Institute of Surface Modification
, D04318 Leipzig, Germany
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a)
Electronic mail: amayer@uni-wuppertal.de
J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 37, 011601 (2019)
Article history
Received:
July 11 2018
Accepted:
November 15 2018
Citation
Andre Mayer, Wenyang Ai, Johannes Rond, Johannes Staabs, Christian Steinberg, Marc Papenheim, Hella-Christin Scheer, Massimo Tormen, Alesandro Cian, Joachim Zajadacz, Klaus Zimmer; Electrically-assisted nanoimprint of block copolymers. J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 1 January 2019; 37 (1): 011601. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5048204
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