Pattern formation in polymer films under the mask

Pattern formation in thin polymeric films via electrohydrodynamic patterning

The free surface of a thin polymeric film is often unstable and deforms into various micro-/nano-patterns under an externally applied electric field. This paper reviews a recent patterning technique, electrohydrodynamic patterning (EHDP), a straightforward, cost-effective and contactless bottom-up method. The theoretical and numerical studies of EHDP are shown. How the characteristic wavelength and the characteristic time depend on both the external conditions (such as voltage, film thickness, template-substrate spacing) and the initial polymer properties (such as rheological property, electrical property and surface tension) is theoretically and experimentally discussed. Various possible strategies for fabricating high-aspect-ratio or hierarchical patterns are theoretically and experimentally reviewed. Aligning and ordering of the anisotropic polymers by EHDP is emphasized. A perspective, including novelty and limitations of the methods, particularly in comparison to some conventional patterning techniques, and a possible future direction of research, is presented.

Fabrication of Active Surfaces with Metastable Microgel Layers Formed during Breath Figure Templating

Patterned porous surfaces with responsive functionalities are fabricated by a thermoresponsive microgel-assisted breath figure (BF) process. When water droplets submerge into a polystyrene (PS) solution during formation of a porous surface by the bottom-up BF process, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-acrylic acid (PNIPAm-co-AA) microgels dispersed in the solution spontaneously assemble at the water-organic interfaces like "Pickering emulsions", reinforced by capillary flow. The conformal layer of PNIPAm-co-AA microgels lining the pores appears in images from a scanning electron microscope (SEM) either as a smooth surface layer (L) or as an array of domelike protrusions (D), depending on the conditions at which the sample was dried for SEM. The change between L and D morphology correlates with the volume phase transition behavior of the microgels freely suspended: drying at a temperature below the volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) gives L, and the D morphology is formed by drying at a temperature greater than the VPTT of PNIPAm-co-AA microgels. The morphological transition is shown to accompany a significant change in surface contact angle (CA) relative to a corresponding pore layer made of PS, with L having a CA that is reduced by 85° relative to PS, while the decrease is only 22° for D. Porous structures with morphologically responsive surfaces could find application in biocatalysis or tissue engineering, for example, with functional enzymes sequestered when microgels are collaped and accessible when the microgels are swollen.

On the mechanism of low-pressure imprint lithography: capillarity vs viscous flow

Dominant mechanisms in low-pressure imprint lithography processes have been identified for the regimes that are definable in terms of applied pressure, temperature, and mold material characteristics. Capillarity is found to be the dominant mechanism at high temperature and low pressure when stiff, hard molds are used. In the case of flexible thin-film ( approximately 20 microm) molds, both the capillarity and the viscous flow are involved. Both mechanisms are operative in the initial stage of the imprinting, but the capillarity takes over as time progresses.

Spinodal instability and pattern formation in thin liquid films confined between two plates

The instability, morphology and pattern formation engendered by the van der Waals force in a thin liquid film of thickness h confined between two closely placed solid surfaces (at distance d > h) are investigated based on nonlinear 3D simulations. The initial and the final stages of dewetting and pattern formation are found to be crucially dependent on the volumetric (thickness) ratio of air and liquid and its deviation from the location of the maximum of the spinodal parameter versus volumetric ratio curve. On a low energy surface, relatively thinner films and wider air gaps favor initial dewetting of the lower plate by the formation of holes, whereas thicker films with thinner air gaps initially evolve by the formation of columns/bridges that join the upper plate. In the later stage of evolution, the initial holes in thinner films evolve into columns/drops, while a rapid coalescence of columns in the thicker films eventually causes formation of holes. Thus, a phase inversion, either from liquid-in-air to air-in-liquid dispersion or vice versa, occurs during the final stages of evolution. A thin film confined between two high-energy solid surfaces forms columns (bridges) only when its mean thickness, h0, is greater than a critical thickness (hc) or the air gap is smaller than a critical distance. The patterns can be aligned by using a topographically patterned confining surface. Conditions on pattern periodicity, amplitude, and the volumetric ratio of air and liquid in the gap are explored for the formation of various types of ordered patterns including annular rings of columns, concentric ripples, parallel channels and a rectangular array of complex features. The results are of significance in soft lithographies such as LISA, soft stamping and capillary force lithography.