Ordered Polymer Nanostructures Induced by Controlled Dewetting

We demonstrate two very simple and fast routes to fabricating ordered micro/nanopatterns of polymers over large areas on various substrates using controlled dewetting. The first method is based on utilizing microimprinting to induce the local thickness variation of an initially inverted bilayer which allows the controlled dewetting and partial layer inversion upon subsequent thermal annealing. In the second method, the self assembly of block copolymer was controlled on a chemically micropatterned surface produced by microcontact printing, being combined with its solvent vapor treatment. The kinetically driven, non-lithographical nanopattern structures were easily fabricated over large area by these approaches.