Fabrication of Perpendicularly Aligned Nanocylinder Array Structures and Nano-Metallized Materials Using Block Copolymer Films

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A goal of this project was to develop a fabrication process of nano-structured materials with a size ranging to deca-nano meter level (〜10^0 nm), where can not be reached with advanced lithographic techniques. Block copolymer nanostructures are built up with controlled polymerization of well-designed functional monomers and self-assembling of the resulting block copolymers, leading to deca-nano assemblies with two step bottom-up process, i.e., design of functional monomers and self-assembling of block copolymers. In order to elevate this project to the goal, the block copolymers were employed to be utilized as nanotemplates, which can make various kinds of materials nanostructured with specific shapes and sizes exactly same as those of block copolymers. One of advantages of block copolymer systems is to significantly expand processing areas, which can be applied for large area fabrications. During the term of this project, unique block copolymers consisting of hydrophilic polyethylene oxide block (PEO) and hydrophobic polymethacrylate with liquid crsytallin side chains were successively produced and the highly ordered hexagonal cylindrical phase structures were reproductively fabricated in the films. The various kinds of materials such as metals, metal oxides, ceramics, semiconductors, and polymers were utilized to incorporate into the PEO domains. The resulting hybrid thin film exhibited the hexagonal cylinder array structures which had exactly same nano-futures with the block copolymers on the substrates. Furthermore, nanostructure-specific functions in electric, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties were successfully extracted. The hybrid thin film especially showed anisotropic electrochemical conductivity through the functionalized PEO cylinders, which could be essential on new device fabrications such as biofilter, organic solar cell, artificial ion-channel, and anisotropically conducting nanowire.