Directed assembly of non-equilibrium ABA triblock copolymer morphologies on nanopatterned substrates.

The majority of past work on directed assembly of block copolymers on chemically nanopatterned surfaces (or chemical patterns) has focused on AB diblock copolymers, and the resulting morphologies have generally corresponded to equilibrium states. Here we report a study on directed assembly of ABA triblock copolymers. Directed assembly of thin films of symmetric poly(methyl methacrylate-b-styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PMMA-b-PS-b-PMMA) triblock copolymers is shown to be capable of achieving a high degree of perfection, registration, and accuracy on striped patterns having periods, L(s), commensurate with the bulk period of the copolymer, L(o).