Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Thickness-Modulated Block Copolymer Thin Films for Controlling Nanodomain Orientations inside Bare Silicon Trenches

We study the orientation and ordering of nanodomains of a thickness-modulated lamellar block copolymer (BCP) thin film at each thickness region inside a topological nano/micropattern of bare silicon wafers without chemical pretreatments. With precise control of the thickness gradient of a BCP thin film and the width of a bare silicon trench, we successfully demonstrate (i) perfectly oriented lamellar nanodomains, (ii) pseudocylindrical nanopatterns as periodically aligned defects from the lamellar BCP thin film, and (iii) half-cylindrical nanostructure arrays leveraged by a trench sidewall with the strong preferential wetting of the PMMA block of the BCP. Our strategy is simple, efficient, and has an advantage in fabricating diverse nanopatterns simultaneously compared to conventional BCP lithography utilizing chemical pretreatments, such as a polymer brush or a self-assembled monolayer (SAM). The proposed self-assembly nanopatterning process can be used in energy devices and biodevices requiring various nanopatterns on the same device and as next-generation nanofabrication processes with minimized fabrication steps for low-cost manufacturing techniques.