Design and fabrication of a solvent resistant microfluidic device for use in combinatorial solvent annealing studies of block copolymer thin films

Abstract

Block copolymer thin film phase behavior from self-assembly is significantly affected by the free surface energetics of the film and block interactions. Solvent vapor annealing promotes self assembly by lowering the glass transition temperature of the block copolymer below the ambient temperature while controlling the free surface energy and mitigating block interactions with solvent selection. Different thin film morphologies, which can be used in applications from nanotemplating to nanoporous membranes, can be produced by adjusting the solvents used in solvent vapor annealing. Solvent composition gradients enable high throughput studies of solvent effects on the phase behavior of block copolymer films.