title: Mechanically modulated dewetting by atomic force microscope for micro- and nano- droplet array fabrication.
abstract: Organizing a material into well-defined patterns during the dewetting process provides an attractive micro-/nano-fabrication method without using a conventional lithographic process, and hence, offers potential applications in organic electronics, optics systems, and memory devices. We report here how the mechanical modification of polymer surface by an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) can be used to guide thin film dewetting evolution and break the intrinsic spatial correlation of spontaneous instability. An AFM is used to implement the mechanical modification of progressively narrow grids to investigate the influence of pattern size on the modulation of ultrathin polystyrene films dewetting evolution. For films with different initial thicknesses, when grid size is close to or below the characteristic wavelength of instability, the spinodal dewetting is suppressed, and film rupture is restricted to the cutting trench. We will show in this paper it is possible to generate only one droplet per gridded area on a thin film subsequent to nucleation dominated dewetting on a non-patterned substrate. Furthermore, when the grid periodicity exceeds the spinodal length, the number of droplets in predefined areas gradually approaches that associated with unconfined dewetting.
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Feifei
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Pan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Longhai
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Shuangxi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Lianqing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China.
authors.forename: Yuechao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 1] State Key Laboratory of Robotics, Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China [2] Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Wen Jung
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Li