In this work, we performed a systematic study on the effect of the geometry of pre-patterned templates and spin-coating conditions on the self-assembling process of colloidal nanospheres. To achieve this goal, large-scale templates, with different size and shape, were generated by direct laser-writer lithography over square millimetre areas. When deposited over patterned templates, the ordering dynamics of the self-assembled nanospheres exhibits an inverse trend with respect to that observed for the maximisation of the correlation length xi on a flat surface. Furthermore, the self-assembly process was found to be strongly dependent on the height (H) of the template sidewalls. In particular, we observed that, when H is 0.6 times the nanospheres diameter and spinning speed 2500 rpm, the formation of a confined and well ordered monolayer is promoted. To unveil the defects generation inside the templates, a systematic assessment of the directed self-assembly quality was performed by a novel method based on Delaunay triangulation. As a result of this study, we found that, in the best deposition conditions, the self-assembly process leads to well-ordered monolayer that extended for tens of micrometres within the linear templates, where 96.2% of them is aligned with the template sidewalls.

Directed Self-Assembly of Polystyrene Nanospheres by Direct Laser-Writing Lithography / Cara, Eleonora; Ferrarese Lupi, Federico; Fretto, Matteo; De Leo, Natascia; Tortello, Mauro; Gonnelli, Renato; Sparnacci, Katia; Boarino, Luca. - In: NANOMATERIALS. - ISSN 2079-4991. - 10:2(2020), p. 280. [10.3390/nano10020280]

Directed Self-Assembly of Polystyrene Nanospheres by Direct Laser-Writing Lithography

Cara, Eleonora;Ferrarese Lupi, Federico;Fretto, Matteo;De Leo, Natascia;Boarino, Luca
2020

Abstract

In this work, we performed a systematic study on the effect of the geometry of pre-patterned templates and spin-coating conditions on the self-assembling process of colloidal nanospheres. To achieve this goal, large-scale templates, with different size and shape, were generated by direct laser-writer lithography over square millimetre areas. When deposited over patterned templates, the ordering dynamics of the self-assembled nanospheres exhibits an inverse trend with respect to that observed for the maximisation of the correlation length xi on a flat surface. Furthermore, the self-assembly process was found to be strongly dependent on the height (H) of the template sidewalls. In particular, we observed that, when H is 0.6 times the nanospheres diameter and spinning speed 2500 rpm, the formation of a confined and well ordered monolayer is promoted. To unveil the defects generation inside the templates, a systematic assessment of the directed self-assembly quality was performed by a novel method based on Delaunay triangulation. As a result of this study, we found that, in the best deposition conditions, the self-assembly process leads to well-ordered monolayer that extended for tens of micrometres within the linear templates, where 96.2% of them is aligned with the template sidewalls.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11696/64840
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