Dresden 2009 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 25: Organic Thin Films V

DS 25.4: Talk

Wednesday, March 25, 2009, 18:45–19:00, GER 37

Structured Polymer Brushes by AFM Lithography — •Michael Hirtz¹, Marion K. Brinks², Saskia Miele², Armido Studer², Harald Fuchs¹, and Lifeng Chi¹ — ¹Physikalisches Institut, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Wilhelm-Klemm-Straße 10, 48149 Münster (Germany) and Center for Nanotechnology (CeNTech), Heisenbergstraße 11, 48149 Münster (Germany) — ²Organisch-Chemisches Institut and NRW Graduate School of Chemistry, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Corrensstraße 40, 48149 Münster (Germany)

Structured polymer brush films (i.e. films covalently linked to the substrate) of different polymers (polystyrene (PS), poly n-butyl acrylate (PNBA) and poly N-isopropylacrylamide (PNIPAM)) with thicknesses from 20 to 30 nm on silicon wafers were obtained by AFM lithography. In comparison to corresponding spin-coated films considerable differences in concern to AFM lithography were observed. Well-defined line pattern with a constant line width around 100 nm and a periodicity of 200 nm are obtained on polymer brushes, whereas the spin-coated films show extensive line broadening and ablation. The finding indicates less lateral crosslink in the polymer brush film thus allowing the high resolution AFM lithography. In addition, site selective immobilization of dye and bioactive molecules into the structured brushes was demonstrated as well as the possibility of parallel large area writing with cantilever arrays.

[1] M. Hirtz, M. K. Brinks, S. Miele, A. Studer, H. Fuchs, L. F. Chi, Small, in print. (DOI: 10.1002/smll.200801339)