Replication of Submicrometric Organized Structures of Block Copolymer from Coordination-Polymer Templates

This paper presents fabrication of a submicrometric template obtained from self-organized well-ordered pattern of nanostructured (poly(styrene)-b-poly(ethene-co-butene)-b-poly(styrene) (SEBS) copolymer. The SEBS ordered structure was formed on mica substrate, in which a thin liquid film of SEBS/Toluene solution was deposited by dip-coating procedure, and after the solvent evaporation, SEBS droplets are spontaneously displayed in a hexagonal arrangement. The molding template was made of PDMS by a soft lithography process and replicas of epoxy forming the original hexagonal pattern with reasonable accuracy. All structures were studied by AFM images, using quantitative computational analyses: hexagonality index and radial distribution functions. The computational analyses showed that the high spacial order in the SEBS nanostructures was followed by the produced mold although and the replica. Also we observed that the original pattern presented 1.7% of dislocation defects (from the hexagonality), while the replica reached 5% showing the success of soft lithography process of nano templates.