Fabrication of Periodic Nanostructure Assemblies by Interfacial Energy Driven Colloidal Lithography

A novel interfacial energy driven colloidal lithography technique to fabricate periodic patterns from solution‐phase is presented and the feasibility and versatility of the technique is demonstrated by fabricating periodically arranged ZnO nanowire ensembles on Si substrates. The pattern fabrication method exploits different interfaces formed by sol–gel derived ZnO seed solution on a hydrophobic Si surface covered by a monolayer of colloidal silica spheres. While the hydrophobic Si surface prevents wetting by the seed solution, the wedge shaped regions surrounding the contact point between the colloidal particles and the Si substrate trap the solution due to interfacial forces. This technique allows fabrication of uniform 2D micropatterns of ZnO seed particles on the Si substrate. A hydrothermal technique is then used to grow well‐defined periodic assemblies of ZnO nanowires. Tunability is demonstrated in the dimensions of the patterns by using silica spheres with different diameters. The experimental data show that the periodic ZnO nanowire assembly suppresses the total reflectivity of bare Si by more than a factor of 2 in the wavelength range 400–1300 nm. Finite‐difference time‐domain simulations of the wavelength‐dependent reflectivity show good qualitative agreement with the experiments. The demonstrated method is also applicable for other materials synthesized by solution chemistry.     

PATTERNED POLYMERS: Fabrication of Multiscale Gradient Polymer Patterns by Direct Molding and Spatially Controlled Reflow (Adv. Funct. Mater. 6/2011)

Size variations of pattern spacing as well as gradient control of the as‐formed polymeric pattern via a spatially controlled reflow process are presented. Micro‐ and nanopatterns of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in the form of line‐and‐space strips are first generated by capillary force lithography (CFL), and the residual layers are removed by ashing process. Subsequently, the exposed PMMA strips underwent a controlled reflow process above the glass transition temperature (T_g) while heating single or both sides of the substrate either in parallel to the line pattern (parallel reflow) or perpendicular to the line pattern (perpendicular reflow). As a result of this controlled reflow, a linear or a parabolic profile of pattern spacing is achieved depending on the heating mode. Furthermore, multiscale gradient patterns are formed with the spacing ranging from 98 nm to 4.23 μm (a difference of two orders of magnitude) in a single patterned layer using the original micropattern of 16 μm width and 8 μm spacing. In order to explain reflow behaviors, a simple theoretical model relating the normalized pattern width to the polymer viscosity is derived based on a leveling kinetics of polymer melt. Also, gradient PMMA channels are fabricated and bonded to a glass substrate, which are used to flow a liquid inside the channels by capillarity‐driven flow.