AFRL-AFOSR-JP-TR-2016-0092 Unlocking the Structure and Dynamics of Thin Polymeric Films

Polymers, either by deliberate design or by virtue of their mode of synthesis, are inherently inhomogeneous. Commercial polymers may be comprised of four or more monomeric building blocks, and these chemically-distinct groups are expected to selectively partition and interact with the interfaces. The objective of this project is to understand on a molecular level how changes in the interfacial structure that are inherent in thin films affects how polymers behave. A number of technically relevant polymeric systems were chosen for study. These were model photoresist polymers similar to the commercial TER60 photoresist; statistical copolymers of methyl methacrylate and a fluorinated monomer; block copolymers of styrene and a polar charged monomer; statistical copolymers of styrene and acrylonitrile. The initial aspect examined in the study was the effect of polymerization mechanism on the monomer placement along the chain, i.e. the sequence distribution (see references 1 and 4). The second aspect examined was the partitioning of one component of a heterogeneous polymer to the air interface (paper 2). The third aspect examined was the ability of these polymers to form particular topographies under particular processing conditions, due to their surface properties (paper 3).