title: Directed Self-Assembly of Polystyrene-b-poly(propylene carbonate) on Chemical Patterns via Thermal Annealing for Next Generation Lithography.
abstract: Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) combines advantages of conventional photolithography and polymeric materials and shows competence in semiconductors and data storage applications. Driven by the more integrated, much smaller and higher performance of the electronics, however, the industry standard polystyrene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) in DSA strategy cannot meet the rapid development of lithography technology because its intrinsic limited Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (χ). Despite hundreds of block copolymers have been developed, these BCPs systems are usually subject to a trade-off between high χ and thermal treatment, resulting in incompatibility with the current nanomanufacturing fab processes. Here we discover that polystyrene-b-poly(propylene carbonate) (PS-b-PPC) is well qualified to fill key positions on DSA strategy for the next-generation lithography. The estimated χ-value for PS-b-PPC is 0.079, that is, two times greater than PS-b-PMMA (χ = 0.029 at 150 °C), while processing the ability to form perpendicular sub-10 nm morphologies (cylinder and lamellae) via the industry preferred thermal-treatment. DSA of lamellae forming PS-b-PPC on chemoepitaxial density multiplication demonstrates successful sub-10 nm long-range order features on large-area patterning for nanofabrication. Pattern transfer to the silicon substrate through industrial sequential infiltration synthesis is also implemented successfully. Compared with the previously reported methods to orientation control BCPs with high χ-value (including solvent annealing, neutral top-coats, and chemical modification), the easy preparation, high χ value, and etch selectivity while enduring thermal treatment demonstrates PS-b-PPC as a rare and valuable candidate for advancing the field of nanolithography.
authors.affiliation: MOE Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Adsorption and Separation Materials and Technologies of Zhejiang Province, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Guan-Wen
authors.initials: GW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: MOE Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Adsorption and Separation Materials and Technologies of Zhejiang Province, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Guang-Peng
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8935-964X
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States.
authors.forename: Xuanxuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States.|Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory , 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.
authors.forename: Shisheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: Cain Department of Chemical Engineering Louisiana State University , Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, United States.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Arges
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Polymer Ecomaterials, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , 5625 Renmin Street, Changchun 130022, China.
authors.forename: Shengxiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago , Chicago, Illinois 60637, United States.|Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory , 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, United States.
authors.forename: Paul F
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-3889-142X
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Nealey
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals Dalian University of Technology Dalian 116024, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Bing
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University , 3255 TAMU, College Station, Texas 77843, United States.
authors.forename: Donald J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Darensbourg
authors.affiliation: MOE Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Adsorption and Separation Materials and Technologies of Zhejiang Province, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou 310027, China.
authors.forename: Zhi-Kang
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-2261-7162
authors.initials: ZK
authors.lastname: Xu
keywords: Directed self-assembly; block copolymer; chemical pattern; lithography; sub-10 nm; thermal annealing