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US 8,999,492 B2Granted
Method to produce nanometer-sized features with directed assembly of block copolymers
AssigneeMicron Technology, Inc.
InventorsDan B. Millward, Gurtej S. Sandhu
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods for fabricating stamps and systems for patterning a substrate, and devices resulting from those methods are provided.
Claims16
A method of forming a stamp, comprising:
- forming a trench in a material overlying a substrate, the trench comprising an unpatterned, neutral wetting floor, opposing preferential wetting ends, and opposing parallel preferential wetting sidewalls separated from one another by a fixed width;
- chemically modifying a polymer block of a PS-b-PMMA copolymer having an inherent pitch (Lo) equal to a depth of the trench to comprise a thiol functional group or an amine functional group to form a modified PS-b-PMMA copolymer comprising a first polymer block having chemical affinity for and swellable by an ink material and a second polymer block not having chemical affinity for and not swellable by the ink material;
- filling the trench with the modified PS-b-PMMA copolymer;
- and
- annealing the modified PS-b-PMMA copolymer to form a stamping surface comprising an ordered array of polymer domains of the first polymer block in a matrix of the second polymer block.
2 more elements
A method of forming a pattern on a receptor substrate, comprising:
- applying an ink chemical material to a surface of a stamp comprising a self-assembled block copolymer material comprising an ordered array of polymer domains within a trench, the trench comprising an unpatterned floor, opposing ends, and opposing sidewalls being parallel to each other from one end to the opposing end, wherein the ink chemical material is selectively absorbed into and swells the domains of a first polymer block but not the domains of a second polymer block of the block copolymer material;
- contacting the surface of the stamp with the receptor substrate to transfer the ink chemical material from the stamp onto the receptor substrate to form the pattern on the receptor substrate;
- and
- removing the stamp from contact with the receptor substrate wherein the pattern of the ink chemical material remains on the receptor substrate.
1 more element
A stamp, comprising:
- a trench in a material overlying a substrate and comprising:
- opposing preferential wetting ends;
- and
- opposing parallel preferential wetting sidewalls, a fixed width separating the opposing parallel preferential wetting sidewalls;
- and
- a self-assembled block copolymer material filling the trench and having an inherent pitch value (Lo) equal to a depth of the trench, the self-assembled block copolymer material comprising a chemically modified PS-b-PMMA copolymer comprising:
- a chemically modified first polymer block comprising a functional group selected from the group consisting of a thiol group and an amine group, the chemically modified first polymer block having an affinity for and swellable by absorption of an ink material;
- and
- a second polymer block having substantially no affinity for and not swellable by the ink material.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.