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Controlled Anisotropic Wetting by Plasma Treatment for Directed Self-Assembly of High-χ Block Copolymers.
- Source :
-
ACS applied materials & interfaces [ACS Appl Mater Interfaces] 2024 May 29; Vol. 16 (21), pp. 27841-27849. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 May 17. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- The directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCPs) is a promising next-generation lithography technique for high-resolution patterning. However, achieving lithographically applicable BCP organization such as out-of-plane lamellae requires proper tuning of interfacial energies between the BCP domains and the substrate, which remains difficult to address effectively and efficiently with high-χ BCPs. Here, we present the successful generation of anisotropic wetting by plasma treatment on patterned spin-on-carbon (SOC) substrates and its application to the DSA of a high-χ Si-containing material, poly(1,1-dimethylsilacyclobutane)- block -polystyrene (PDMSB- b -PS), with a 9 nm half pitch. Exposing the SOC substrate to different plasma chemistries promotes the vertical alignment of the PDMSB- b -PS lamellae within the trenches. In particular, a patterned substrate treated with HBr/O <subscript>2</subscript> plasma gives both a neutral wetting at the bottom interface and a strong PS-affine wetting at the sidewalls of the SOC trenches to efficiently guide the vertical BCP lamellae. Furthermore, prolonged exposure to HBr/O <subscript>2</subscript> plasma enables an adjustment of the trench width and an increased density of BCP lines on the substrate. Experimental observations are in agreement with a free energy configurational model developed to describe the system. These advances, which could be easily implemented in industry, could contribute to the wider adoption of self-assembly techniques in microelectronics, and beyond to applications such as metasurfaces, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, and sensing technologies.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1944-8252
- Volume :
- 16
- Issue :
- 21
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- ACS applied materials & interfaces
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 38758246
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.4c01657