Block copolymer micelle nanolithography on non-conductive substrates

Abstract

A new lithographic technique has been developed and applied to cell adhesion studies and electro-optical material development. Attachment of 6 nm Au particles, in periodic and non-periodic pattern, onto non-conductive substrates has been achieved. This was performed via a combination of diblock copolymer self-assembly and electron beam lithographic techniques. To optimize e-beam resolution on non-conductive materials, an additional carbon layer was thread-coated onto the substrates. This carbon coating and the diblock copolymer used in the self-assembly step were simultaneously removed by a final hydrogen plasma treatment to reveal Au nanodot patterns of unprecedented pattern quality. These optically transparent substrates (glass cover slips) were bio-functionalized via the Au-dot patterns to yield a platform for unique cell adhesion studies. The same Au-dot patterning technique was applied to sapphire substrates, which were subsequently employed to nucleate electro-optically active ZnO nanopost growth.