Simulated annealing study of asymmetric diblock copolymer thin films.
We report a simulated annealing study of the morphology of asymmetric diblock copolymer thin films confined between two homogeneous and identical surfaces. We have focused on copolymers that form a gyroidal morphology in the bulk. The morphological dependence of the confined films on the film thickness and the surface-polymer interaction has been systematically investigated. From the simulations it is found that much richer morphologies can form for the gyroid-forming asymmetric diblock copolymer thin films, in contrast to the lamella-forming symmetric and cylinder-forming asymmetric diblock copolymer films. Multiple morphological transitions induced by changing the film thickness and polymer-surface interactions are observed.
Yin
Yuhua
Y
College of Physics, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, People's Republic of China.
Sun
Pingchuan
P
Jiang
Run
R
Li
Baohui
B
Chen
Tiehong
T
Jin
Qinghua
Q
Ding
Datong
D
Shi
An-Chang
AC