Block copolymers (BCP) can self-assemble into nanoscale patterns with a wide variety of applications in the semiconductor industry. The self-assembly of BCPs is commonly accomplished by solvent vapor or thermal annealing, but generally these methods require long time (few hours) to obtain nanostructured thin films. In this contribution, a new and ultrafast method (using microwaves) is proposed-high temperature solvent vapor annealing (HTSVA), combining solvent vapor annealing with thermal annealing, to achieve fast and controllable self-assembly of amphiphilic BCP thin films. A promising carbohydrate-based BCP capable of forming cylindrical patterns with some of the smallest feature sizes is used for demonstrating how to obtain a highly ordered vertical cylindrical pattern with sub-10 nm feature sizes in few seconds by HTSVA. HTSVA provides not only a simple way to achieve BCP fast self-assembly in practical applications but also a tool to study the self-assembly behavior of BCPs under extreme conditions.
Keywords: block copolymers; carbohydrates; microwave radiations; nanostructured thin films; self-assembly.
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