Due to conventional lithography resolution limits of approximately 36 nm, alternative patterning technologies must be explored to further increase magnetic data storage capacity in flash memory and hard disk drives, and decrease microelectronic device sizes. Block copolymers demonstrate potential for use in next-generation lithography due to their ability to self-assemble into well-ordered periodic arrays on the 1-100nm length scales. These materials pose an attractive alternative to conventional lithographic techniques since block copolymer template fabrication methods can be made to be compatible with current semiconductor manufacturing processes. The design of a material for use in block copolymer lithography is a critical area of research for this technology. The present work describes the synthesis and self-assembly of block copolymers composed of naturally-occurring oligosaccharides coupled to a silicon-containing polystyrene derivative which exhibit 5 nm feature dimensions, oxygen reactive ion etch resistance due to the silicon incoreporation, and bulk and thin film self-assembly of hexagonally packed cylinders.

Oligosaccharide/silicon-containing block copolymers for nanolithography

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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