Thermal scanning probe lithography for the directed self-assembly of block copolymers.

Thermal scanning probe lithography (t-SPL) is applied to the fabrication of chemical guiding patterns for directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers (BCP). The two key steps of the overall process are the accurate patterning of a poly(phthalaldehyde) resist layer of only 3.5 nm thickness, and the subsequent oxygen-plasma functionalization of an underlying neutral poly(styrene-random-methyl methacrylate) brush layer. We demonstrate that this method allows one to obtain aligned line/space patterns of poly(styrene-block-methyl methacrylate) BCP of 18.5 and 11.7 nm half-pitch. Defect-free alignment has been demonstrated over areas of tens of square micrometres. The main advantages of t-SPL are the absence of proximity effects, which enables the realization of patterns with 10 nm resolution, and its compatibility with standard DSA methods. In the brush activation step by oxygen-plasma exposure, we observe swelling of the brush. This effect is discussed in terms of the chemical reactions occurring in the exposed areas. Our results show that t-SPL can be a suitable method for research activities in the field of DSA, in particular for low-pitch, high-χ BCP to achieve sub-10 nm line/space patterns.

Direct experimental observation of stacking fault scattering in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite meso-structures.

Stacking fault defects are thought to be the root cause for many of the anomalous transport phenomena seen in high-quality graphite samples. In stark contrast to their importance, direct observation of stacking faults by diffractive techniques has remained elusive due to fundamental experimental difficulties. Here we show that the stacking fault density and resistance can be measured by analyzing the non-Gaussian scatter observed in the c-axis resistivity of mesoscopic graphite structures. We also show that the deviation from Ohmic conduction seen at high electrical field strength can be fit to a thermally activated transport model, which accurately reproduces the stacking fault density inferred from the statistical analysis. From our measurements, we conclude that the c-axis resistivity is entirely determined by the stacking fault resistance, which is orders of magnitude larger than the inter-layer resistance expected from a Drude model.

Field stitching in thermal probe lithography by means of surface roughness correlation.

A novel stitching method is presented which does not require special purpose alignment markers and which is particularly adapted to probe lithographic methods, enabling the writing of large patterns exceeding the size limitations imposed by high precision scan stages. The technique exploits the natural roughness of polymeric resist surfaces as a fingerprint marker for the sample position. Theoretical and experimental evidence is provided that sub-nanometer metrological accuracy can be achieved by inspecting the surface roughness in areas with 1 µm linear dimensions. The method has been put to the test in a thermal probe lithography experiment by writing a composite pattern consisting of five 10 µm × 10 µm fields which are seamlessly joined together. The observed stitching error of 10 nm between fields is dominated by inaccuracies of the scanning hardware used in the experiment and is not fundamentally limited by the method per se.