Lithographically directed materials assembly

TL;DR: In this paper, a single resistless lithography step is used to directly change the surface energy without requiring subsequent material deposition or plasma etching steps, and the resulting polystyrene features can be used as an etch mask to transfer periodic lines and spaces into a silicon substrate.

Abstract: We have developed a processing method that significantly reduces the number of steps necessary to yield a surface that directs block copolymer assembly. This methodology employs a single resistless lithography step that directly changes the surface energy without requiring subsequent material deposition or plasma etching steps. The lithographically defined difference in surface energies acts as a template to direct diblock polymer self-assembly into low-defect periodic structures. Our newly developed lithographically directed self-assembly technique can produce sub-45 nm half pitch lines employing poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA) and interference lithography. Once assembled into periodic lines of alternating materials, the PMMA block can be removed and the resulting polystyrene features can be used as an etch mask to transfer periodic lines-and-spaces into a silicon substrate.