Issue 4, 2016

Development of polycarbonate-containing block copolymers for thin film self-assembly applications

Abstract

Access to well-defined materials is one of the key requirements for successful implementation of block copolymer-based lithography for advanced semiconductor nodes. We report on the development of polystyrene-b-polytrimethylene carbonate (PS-b-PTMC) block copolymer (BCP) using organocatalytic ring opening polymerization of trimethylene carbonate (TMC) from hydroxyl-functional polystyrene macroinitiator as a materials candidate for directed self-assembly applications. The impact of organocatalyst choice and the extent of TMC conversion on the quality of PS-b-PTMC BCP were studied using gel permeation chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques. As a direct method to identify PTMC homopolymer content in the resulting BCPs, a new NMR-based technique was developed. Finally, the influence of BCP purity on the thin film morphology was studied using atomic force microscopy and grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering techniques. Our results indicate that the PTMC homopolymer impurity negatively impacts the thin film morphology, which is extremely important for lithographic applications.

Graphical abstract: Development of polycarbonate-containing block copolymers for thin film self-assembly applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Nov 2015
Accepted
09 Dec 2015
First published
10 Dec 2015

Polym. Chem., 2016,7, 940-950

Author version available

Development of polycarbonate-containing block copolymers for thin film self-assembly applications

A. Vora, R. J. Wojtecki, K. Schmidt, A. Chunder, J. Y. Cheng, A. Nelson and D. P. Sanders, Polym. Chem., 2016, 7, 940 DOI: 10.1039/C5PY01846C

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