A simple pathway to ordered silica nanopattern from self-assembling of block copolymer containing organic silicon block

Self-assembly of block copolymer is an effective strategy to prepare periodic structures at nanoscale. In this paper an unique and very simple method to prepare inorganic silica nanopattern is demonstrated from self-assembling of poly(styrene-block-dimethylsiloxane) (PS-b-PDMS) on the surface of silicon wafer. To simplify the patterning process, at first we obtain highly ordered PDMS microdomains, which are covered with PS layer by controlling solvent vapor annealing conditions. Following exposure to UV/O₃ irradiation, nanopatterned surface consisting of silicon oxide is fabricated directly via selectively etching PS phase and converting PDMS phase into silicon oxide. As tuning the composition of the block copolymer, hexagonally packing dot and straight stripe pattern can be obtained. Finally, the time evolution from spheres morphology to aligned long cylinders is discussed. These results hold promise for nanolithography and the fabrication of nanodevices.