Submicrometer Pattern Fabrication by Intensification of Instability in Ultrathin Polymer Films under a Water-Solvent Mix

TL;DR

This paper presents a simple room-temperature method to produce sub-micron polymer droplets and ordered arrays by dewetting ultrathin polystyrene films in a water-solvent mixture, significantly reducing droplet size and enhancing pattern control.

Contribution

The study introduces a novel, one-step dewetting technique using a water-organic solvent mix to achieve sub-micron patterning of ultrathin polymer films at room temperature.

Findings

Achieved over tenfold reduction in droplet size and separation.

Demonstrated faster dewetting dynamics compared to air.

Enabled controlled patterning on topographically patterned substrates.

Abstract

Dewetting of ultrathin (< 100 nm) polymer films, by heating above the glass transition, produces droplets of sizes of the order of microns and mean separations between droplets of the order of tens of microns. These relatively large length scales are because of the weak destabilizing van der Waals forces and the high surface energy penalty required for deformations on small scales. We show a simple, one-step versatile method to fabricate sub-micron (>~100 nm) droplets and their ordered arrays by room temperature dewetting of ultrathin polystyrene (PS) films by minimizing these limitations. This is achieved by controlled room temperature dewetting under an optimal mixture of water, acetone and methyl-ethyl ketone (MEK). Diffusion of organic solvents in the film greatly reduces its glass transition temperature and the interfacial tension, but enhances the destabilizing field by introduction of electrostatic force. The latter is reflected in a change in the exponent, n of the instability length scale, {\lambda} ~h^n, where h is the film thickness and n = 1.51 \pm 0.06 in the case of water-solvent mix, as opposed to its value of 2.19 \pm 0.07 for dewetting in air. The net outcome is more than one order of magnitude reduction in the droplet size as well as their mean separation and also a much faster dynamics of dewetting. We also demonstrate the use of this technique for controlled dewetting on topographically patterned substrates with submicrometer features where dewetting in air is either arrested, incomplete or unable to produce ordered patterns.