Creation of Chemical Patterns for Directed Assembly of Block Copolymers

In the photolithographic process, information in the form of exposed and unexposed material is transferred to a sacrificial photoresist film in the exposure tool. Through a series of processing steps patterned features are ultimately created from information that defines components of devices. We are investigating the insertion of block copolymer lithography into the current lithographic process for improved information transfer, process control, and resolution. My researches focus on developing methods for creating neutral and chemically nanopatterned substrates for block copolymer lithography. In this presentation I will describe a new strategy for creating and replicating nanoscale chemical surface patterns, which will eliminate the necessity of lithographic patterning at or near the dimension of the block copolymer material for each chip and provide a path for improved or sub-lithographic resolution, and is suitable for high-volume manufacturing.