2018/11/14 by Karim Gadelrab, Gadelrab, Karim, Alfredo Alexander‐Katz +1
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Block Copolymer Self-Assembly #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic properties of thin films #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Theoretical and Computational Physics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1811.06084
openalex publication_date 2018/11/14 · openalex created_date 2022/08/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Self-consistent field theory (SCFT) and strong segregation theory (SST) are\nused to explore the parameter space governing the self-assembly of cylinder\nforming block copolymers (BCPs) on a modulated substrate. The stability of\nin-plane cylinders aligning parallel or perpendicular to substrate corrugation\nis investigated for different barrier height and spacing for a weakly\npreferential substrate. Within the conditions of our simulations, the results\nindicate that cylinder alignment orthogonal to substrate undulation is promoted\nat low barrier height when substrate is preferential to minority block,\nindependent of barrier spacing. Commensurability is shown to play a limited\nrole in the assembly of orthogonal meshes. Parallel alignment is readily\nachieved at larger barrier height, near condition of commensuration between\nbarrier spacing and polymer equilibrium period. This is particularly true when\nsubstrate is attractive to majority block. The interplay between barrier shape\nand substrate affinity can be utilized in nanotechnology application such as\nmesh creation, density multiplication, and 3D BCP morphologies.\n