Designing A-<i>b</i>-(B-<i>r</i>-C) block copolymers for lithographic applications

ORAL

Abstract

Designing defect-free structures with a specified pitch size for the lithographic applications is a challenging task due to the need to balance both chain interactions and surface interactions. One approach is to decouple the phase separation from the surface interactions through A-b-(B-r-C) polymers where the A is PS and B and C are modified-PGMA. For perpendicular lamellae structures, the surface energy of A should be balanced by the surface energy of B-r-C by varying the relative ratio of B to C. However, the parameter space is large. Having surface energy information of various candidate blocks can be crucial to reduce the parameter space. For perpendicular lamellae structures, surface energy of the A block should be balanced by the surface energies of B and C blocks. Here we perform all atom molecular dynamics simulations to determine the effects of chemistry on the density and surface energy. This information can then be used to reduce the synthetic burden during the design of these block copolymers.

*The financial support from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), through the Center for Hierarchical Materials Design (CHiMaD, 70NANB14H012) is gratefully acknowledged.

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Presenters

  • Yuba Dahal

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology

Authors

  • Yuba Dahal

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Hongbo Feng

    • Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • University of Chicago

  • Juan De Pablo

    • University of Chicago
    • Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • Paul F Nealey

    • Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago
    • University of Chicago
    • Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago

  • R. Joseph Kline

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology

  • Debra Audus

    • National Institute of Standards and Technology