August 18, 2011 -- The US Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory Center for Nanoscale Materials and Energy Systems Division, led by Seth Darling, is using sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS) to transfer patterns more deeply into materials via e-beam lithography. With SIS, scientists grow inorganic materials within polymer films, contructing materials with unique properties or complex 3D geometries.

The method avoids e-beam lithography's hard mask application, which can blur patterns, create rough edges, and add costs. SIS makes the traditionally thin, delicate resist film robust by infiltrating it with inorganic material, Darling said. SIS-assisted lithography can pattern narrow features >1µm deep.

The researchers can combine SIS with block copolymers to create tunable nanostructures, which could further improve the lithography capabilities. The process requires a selective reaction between the inorganic precursor molecules and one of the components in the block copolymer.

The work is published in "Enhanced polymeric lithography resists via sequential infiltration synthesis" in the Journal of Materials Chemistry (Access it here: http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2011/jm/c1jm12461g) and "Enhanced block copolymer lithography using sequential infiltration synthesis" in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C (Access it here: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp205532e).

Use of the Center for Nanoscale Materials was supported by DOE's Office of Science. This work was also supported in part by the Argonne-Northwestern Solar Energy Research Center, a DOE Office of Science-funded Energy Frontier Research Center.

The Center for Nanoscale Materials at Argonne National Laboratory is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers (NSRCs). For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit http://nano.energy.gov.

Argonne National Laboratory researches science and technology problems with national implications.

Courtesy of Jared Sagoff and Louise Lerner

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