CONTEXT

Today, the efforts toward developing nanometer scale fabrication methods could be split into two fields. One field seeks to extend the current planar, deposit-pattern-etch paradigm used for complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS). The other seeks new techniques to assemble structures without handling individual particles: self-assembly.

Diblock copolymers are a promising class of materials that self-assemble to form ordered nanostructures. These structures include spheres, cylinders, lamellae, hexagonally ordered cylinders, biscontinuous cubic gyroids whose shape and dimensions depend on the molecular weight and composition of the polymer. Diblock copolymer lithography refers to the use of these nanostructures in thin films as templates.