title: Enhancing the Directed Self-assembly Kinetics of Block Copolymers Using Binary Solvent Mixtures.
abstract: The rapid pattern formation of well-ordered block copolymer (BCP) nanostructures is practical for next-generation nanolithography applications. However, there remain critical hurdles to achieve the rapid self-assembly of BCPs with a high Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (χ), owing to their slow kinetics. In this article, we report that a binary solvent vapor annealing methodology can significantly accelerate the self-assembly kinetics of poly(dimethylsiloxane-b-styrene) (PDMS-b-PS) BCPs with a high-χ. In particular, we systemically analyzed the effects of the mixing ratio of a binary solvent composed of a PDMS-selective solvent (heptane) and a PS-selective solvent (toluene), showing an ultrafast self-assembly time (≤1 min) to obtain a well-ordered nanostructure. Moreover, we successfully accomplished extremely fast generation of sub-20 nm dot patterns within an annealing time of 10 s in a 300 nm-wide trench by means of binary solvent annealing. We believe that these results are also applicable to other solvent-based annealing systems of BCPs and that they will contribute to the realization of next-generation ultrafine lithography applications.
authors.affiliation: Global Frontier R&D Center for Hybrid Interface Materials (HIM), Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Woon Ik
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University (PNU) , Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Young Joong
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Global Frontier R&D Center for Hybrid Interface Materials (HIM), Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Je Moon
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yun
authors.affiliation: Department of Cogno-Mechatronics Engineering, Pusan National University (PNU) , Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Suck Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) , 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yeon Sik
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.affiliation: Global Frontier R&D Center for Hybrid Interface Materials (HIM), Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.|School of Materials Science and Engineering, Pusan National University (PNU) , Busandaehak-ro 63beon-gil, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kwang Ho
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: binary solvent annealing; block copolymer; directed self-assembly; interaction parameter; self-assembly kinetics