Extending the scope of poly(styrene)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) for directed self assembly

Directed self-assembly (DSA) is a promising technique for extending conventional lithographic techniques by being able to print features with critical dimensions under 10 nm. The most widely studied block copolymer system is polystyreneblock-polymethyl methacrylate (PS-b-PMMA). The system is well understood in terms of its synthesis, properties and performance in DSA. However, PS-b-PMMA also has a number of limitations that impact on its performance and hence scope of application. The primary limitation is the low Flory-Huggins polymer-polymer interaction parameter (χ), which limits the size of features that can be printed by DSA. Another issue with block copolymers in general is that specific molecular weights need to be synthesized to achieve desired morphologies and feature sizes. We are exploring blending ionic liquid additiveswithPS-b-PMMAto increase the χ parameter. This allows smaller feature sizes to be accessed by PS-b-PMMA. Depending on the amount of additive it is also possible to tune the domain size and the morphology of the systems. These findings may expand the scope of PS-b-PMMA for DSA.