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

由于过去50年来微电子行业的进步，今天的智能手机比20世纪70年代和80年代最好的超级计算机功能更强大，价格更便宜。这些技术几乎影响到生活的方方面面-从娱乐和个人通信到医疗保健和国防。目前，计算机芯片制造使用激光来图案化更小的特征，以制造更快的处理器并创建更高密度的数据存储。然而，使用这种方法进行图案化的成本上升速度快于较小特征所带来的好处，因此需要开发新的制造方法来推进该领域并保持美国作为先进制造业世界领导者的地位。这项资助支持对使用嵌段共聚物的替代图案化方法的基础研究，嵌段共聚物是一种橡胶塑料，通过称为自组装的过程自然形成纳米级图案。该研究产生了必要的知识，以改变下一代纳米电子产品的制造，可以纳入通信设备，安全技术，健康监测器和疾病治疗。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人员团队，他们具有分子模拟和实验材料合成方面的专业知识，培养了一批高中生、本科生和博士生，这些学生将推动先进材料制造的创新。嵌段共聚物自组装提供了一条直接形成纳米结构的制造路线，无需进行更复杂、耗时、和昂贵的基于激光的图案化方法。该项目研究了强分离的环状嵌段共聚物的相行为，该共聚物有望获得亚10 nm的特征尺寸和稳定聚合物薄膜以防止去湿。该项目使用互补的实验和计算方法，不仅将环状嵌段共聚物与线性类似物进行比较，而且还评估环状/线性嵌段共聚物混合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，解决了两个关键的挑战：首先，使用少量的环状嵌段共聚物作为结构导向剂和膜稳定剂，以实现目标光刻域尺寸，同时最小化特定环状嵌段共聚物的量。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的稀溶液条件来提高产率，了解会产生什么线性杂质以及它们如何影响自组装。在整个项目中，对所形成结构的热力学起源的洞察来自分子模拟，以指导和优化实验设计。该奖项反映了NSF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。

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.