Prepolymer Composition for Block Copolymer Film Dewetting Prevention
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Solution Overview
Problem
In directed self-assembly nanolithography, block copolymer films face dewetting issues due to their liquid/viscous state, leading to non-flat films and difficulties in achieving perpendicular nanodomains, which are crucial for microelectronics applications. Existing methods are time-consuming and costly, and the integration of top coat layers with different affinities creates thickness differences that complicate plasma etching and final application.
Innovation Solution
A prepolymer composition with functional monomers and two chemically different crosslinking agents is used, allowing for localized crosslinking to create areas with opposite affinities, preventing dewetting and enabling perpendicular or parallel nanodomain orientation by controlling surface energy contrasts.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If block copolymer film is kept in liquid/viscous state to enable self-organization, then nanodomains can form, but dewetting phenomena occur causing non-flat films
Solution Approach 1:
A top coat layer is deposited on the block copolymer film before self-organization occurs. This top coat acts as a preliminary protective layer that prevents dewetting during the self-organization process, allowing the block copolymer to form nanodomains while maintaining film flatness. The top coat is subsequently removed after the nanodomains are formed.
Solution Approach 2:
The top coat layer serves as an intermediary substance between the block copolymer film and the environment. It mediates the contradiction by providing mechanical support and preventing dewetting without interfering with the self-organization process of the block copolymer nanodomains.
2Manufacturing precision
If top coat layers with different affinities are integrated to create perpendicular patterns, then nanodomain orientation is controlled, but thickness differences arise complicating plasma etching
Solution Approach 1:
The top coat layer is designed with spatially varying properties - different regions have different affinities for the block copolymer blocks, creating local quality variations. This allows control of nanodomain orientation in different areas (perpendicular vs parallel) while maintaining a uniform overall thickness that simplifies subsequent plasma etching processes.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method stabilizes the block copolymer film, prevents dewetting, and simplifies the integration process by achieving flat, nanostructured patterns with controlled nanodomain orientation, reducing the complexity of top coat layer removal and enhancing the usability of block copolymer films in nanolithography.
Implementation Method 1
a crosslinking activator, such as a photo-generated acid PAG, a photo-generated base PBG, or a radical generator for example, is incorporated into the pre-TC top coat material and an appropriate stimulation of the activator, for example by UV radiation or an electron beam or thermal treatment, allows the top coat film TC to be crosslinked
Implementation Method 2
This block copolymer BCP film, intended to form a nanolithography mask, is necessarily in a liquid/viscous state at the assembly temperature, so it can self-organize into nanodomains, due to a phase segregation between the blocks
Implementation Method 3
hydrodynamic phenomena at the origin of dewetting appear as long as the material is not in a solid state. This dewetting phenomenon is characterized by the spontaneous shrinkage of the polymer film applied to the surface of the underlying layer
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a crosslinkable prepolymer composition for use as a contrast layer. It also relates to a method for structuring an interface material. This method is characterized in particular by the following steps:depositing, on a block copolymer film, a prepolymer composition layer comprising a plurality of functional monomers and at least one crosslinkable functional group within its polymer chain and, on the other hand, two chemically different crosslinking agents, each agent being capable of initiating the crosslinking of said prepolymer in response to a stimulation specific thereto,subjecting the stack to a first stimulation localized on first areas, so as to cause a crosslinking reaction of the molecular chains of said prepolymer, and subjecting the stack to a second stimulation, so as to cause crosslinking of the molecular chains of said prepolymer by the action of said second crosslinking agent in secondary areas.