Team develops novel method for nanostructured polymer thin films

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(Top L.) Schematic of the NIST cold zone annealing process for polymer thin films on a semiconductor wafer. Experiment images are color-coded to show regions with different cylinder orientations as measured by atomic force microscopy. Relatively rapi ...
(Top L.) Schematic of the NIST 'cold zone' annealing process for polymer thin films on a semiconductor wafer. Experiment images are color-coded to show regions with different cylinder orientations, as measured by atomic force microscopy. Relatively rapid transit times (top r.) leave a jumble of different regions that become largely homogeneous at slower speeds (r.). Credit: NIST
All researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology wanted was a simple, quick method for making thin films of block copolymers or BCPs (chemically distinct polymers linked together) in order to have decent samples for taking measurements important to the microelectronics industry. What they got for their efforts, as detailed in the Sept. 12, 2007, Nano Letters, was an unexpected bonus: a unique annealing process that may make practical the use of BCP thin films for patterning nanoscale features in next-generation microchips and data storage devices.


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