Using Self-Assembled Cyclic and Linear Block Copolymer Blends as Templates for Sub-10 nm Soft Lithography

使用自组装环状和线性嵌段共聚物混合物作为亚 10 nm 软光刻的模板

• 批准号: 1825881
• 负责人: Julie Albert
• 金额: $ 39.88万
• 依托单位: Tulane University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-08-15 至 2022-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1825881&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Using; Self; Assembled; Cyclic; Linear

Thanks to advancements in the microelectronics industry over the past fifty years, today's smart phones are more powerful and less expensive than the best supercomputers of the 1970's and 1980's. These technologies impact nearly every facet of life - from entertainment and personal communication to healthcare and national defense. Currently, computer chip manufacturing uses lasers to pattern ever-smaller features to make faster processors and create higher density data storage. However, the cost of patterning using this approach is rising faster than the benefits afforded by smaller features, necessitating the development of new manufacturing approaches to advance the field and maintain U.S. status as a world leader in advanced manufacturing. This grant supports fundamental research into an alternative patterning method that uses block copolymers, a type of rubbery plastic that naturally forms nanoscale patterns through a process called self-assembly. The research generates the knowledge necessary to transform the manufacture of next-generation nanoelectronics that can be incorporated into communication devices, security technologies, health monitors, and disease treatments. These advances contribute to national prosperity, health and security. This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in molecular simulations and experimental materials synthesis to train a diverse cohort of high school, undergraduate, and doctoral students that will drive innovation in advanced materials manufacturing.Block copolymer self-assembly offers a direct manufacturing route to nanostructure formation that eliminates the need for more complex, time-consuming, and costly laser-based patterning methods. This project investigates the phase behavior of strongly segregated cyclic block copolymers, which show promise for accessing sub-10 nm feature sizes and stabilizing polymer thin films against dewetting. The project uses complementary experimental and computational approaches to not only compare cyclic block copolymers to linear analogues but also to evaluate nanostructure quality in cyclic/linear block copolymer blends as templates for nanolithography. To realize manufacturing scalability of this approach, two critical challenges are addressed: First, using small quantities of cyclic block copolymer as a structure-directing and film-stabilizing agent to achieve target lithographic domain sizes while minimizing the amount of specialty cyclic block copolymer. Second, if shorter reaction times and less dilute solution conditions are used in the synthesis of cyclic molecules to improve yield, understanding what linear impurities are generated and how do they impact self-assembly. Throughout the project, insight into the thermodynamic origin of the structures formed are derived from molecular simulations to guide and optimize experimental design.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

由于过去50年来微电子工业的进步，今天的智能手机比上世纪70年代和80年代最好的超级计算机更强大，更便宜。这些技术几乎影响着生活的方方面面——从娱乐和个人通讯到医疗保健和国防。目前，计算机芯片制造业使用激光来设计更小的特征，以制造更快的处理器和更高密度的数据存储。然而，使用这种方法的成本增长速度超过了小特征所带来的好处，因此有必要开发新的制造方法来推进该领域的发展，并保持美国在先进制造领域的世界领先地位。该基金支持一种使用嵌段共聚物（一种橡胶塑料，通过称为自组装的过程自然形成纳米级图案）的替代图案方法的基础研究。这项研究产生了改造下一代纳米电子产品制造所必需的知识，这些纳米电子产品可以应用于通信设备、安全技术、健康监测和疾病治疗。这些进步有助于国家繁荣、健康和安全。该项目汇集了一个跨学科的研究团队，他们在分子模拟和实验材料合成方面具有专业知识，培养了一批不同的高中生、本科生和博士生，他们将推动先进材料制造的创新。嵌段共聚物自组装为纳米结构的形成提供了直接的制造途径，从而消除了更复杂、耗时和昂贵的基于激光的图图化方法。该项目研究了强分离环嵌段共聚物的相行为，该共聚物有望获得低于10纳米的特征尺寸，并稳定聚合物薄膜，防止脱湿。该项目采用互补的实验和计算方法，不仅比较了循环嵌段共聚物与线性类似物，而且还评估了循环/线性嵌段共聚物共混物作为纳米光刻模板的纳米结构质量。为了实现这种方法的制造可扩展性，需要解决两个关键挑战：首先，使用少量的环嵌段共聚物作为结构导向和膜稳定剂，以达到目标光刻畴尺寸，同时最大限度地减少特种环嵌段共聚物的数量。其次，如果在环状分子的合成中使用更短的反应时间和更少稀释的溶液条件来提高产率，了解产生了什么线性杂质以及它们如何影响自组装。在整个项目中，通过分子模拟来深入了解所形成结构的热力学起源，以指导和优化实验设计。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Impact of Cyclic Block Copolymer Chain Architecture and Degree of Polymerization on Nanoscale Domain Spacing: A Simulation and Scaling Theory Analysis

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.9b02015
• 发表时间: 2019-12-10
• 期刊: MACROMOLECULES
• 影响因子: 5.5
• 作者: Goodson, Amy D.;Troxler, Jessie E.;Albert, Julie N. L.
• 通讯作者: Albert, Julie N. L.