| The driving force for nanotechnology is the development of new processes and novel materials to make nanofabrication easier, cheaper, and more versatile. The use of self-assembled block copolymer structures to direct the formation of large area nanoscale (1-100 nm) features could provide a fabrication-compatible means to supplement conventional lithographic techniques. In this research, we have developed an approach based upon self-assembly of block copolymer microdomains on semiconductor to pattern surface chemical reactions that lead to interfacing of metal architectures and other technologically interesting functional nanostructures.;The microdomains of the self-assembled block copolymers are normally disordered and have no preferred orientation in large scale. In the second part of the thesis, we demonstrate the growth of highly ordered metallic nanostructures oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the substrate via graphoepitaxy and solvent annealing. The fingerprint metallic nanowires were aligned on lithographically defined silicon substrates via graphoepitaxy, through which surface topography of the substrate directs epitaxial growth of the copolymer film. Block copolymers with higher molecular weights were oriented to large area hexagonal arrays or parallel lines by solvent annealing. The consequent synthesized metallic nanostructures were employed as masks to transfer the patterns onto the underlying Si substrates.;Finally, the growth of three dimensional (3-D) nanostructures is also explored in the thesis. Superimposed 3-D nanostructures were obtained through the use of block copolymer bilayers. Combined with glancing angle deposition, the ordered metallic arrays served as seeds to grow TiO2 optical thin films, which have potential as photonic band gap materials.;In order to harness the potential of block copolymers to produce nanoscale structures that can be integrated with existing silicon-based technologies, there is a need for compatible chemistries. In the first part of the thesis, the cylindrical domains of acid sensitive polystyrene-block-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) block copolymers were utilized as structural elements for the production of parallel fingerprint metal nanowires. The morphology of the patterns can be modulated by controlling the processing parameters. This method is highly versatile as the procedures to manipulate nanowire composition, dimension, and spacing are straightforward and efficient aqueous-based inorganic chemistry. |
