Microstructure Of Confined Block Copolymer Thin Films: Application Of Interfacial-Saft (Isaft) Density Functional Theory
Shekhar Jain, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77096, Adam S. Bymaster, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, 6100 Main, Houston, TX 77005 and Walter G. Chapman, Rice University, 6100 Main St., Houston, TX 77096

Block copolymers consist of chemically distinct polymer chains (blocks) covalently bonded together. Due to the differences in the physiochemical properties of these blocks, the block copolymers undergo order disorder transitions (ODT) at the microscopic level, resulting in microphase-separated states. The presence of these microscopic structures has significant impact on the technological applications of block copolymers in the field of nanofabrication, copolymer-based lithography and photonic materials.

Diblock copolymers exhibit a variety of microstructures, which depend on the relative compositions of the two distinct blocks. In case of symmetric diblock copolymers, the equilibrium structure is the lamellar structure where each lamellar layer is an A-B or B-A repeat unit. We use Interfacial-SAFT (iSAFT) density functional theory to study the morphologies of symmetric diblock copolymers confined between two parallel surfaces, both of which selectively attract one component of the diblock. The effect of the film thickness on the microstructure has been investigated.

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Polymer Thin Films and Interfaces III

The Preliminary Program for 2007 Annual Meeting