Dewetting of polymer thin films

• Main Author: Yap, Chin Chong
• Other Authors: Tay Beng Kang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Microelectronics and semiconductor materials::Thin films
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/15800
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This report aims to investigates the various stages and characteristics of spinodal dewetting on polystyrene thin film (<100nm). Spinodal dewetting process can be divided into 3 different stages. The first stage is represented by the breaking up of thin films to form small holes. Next, these holes will grow in size and coalesce with their neighbouring holes before they eventually developed into droplets. The parameters that were been investigated in this project include spin coating on different substrates, annealing at different temperature, experimenting with different PS thickness and PS molecular weight. Spinodal dewetting will also be performed on a pre-patterned (dot and hexagon shaped) surface. Last but not least, we will be discussing measures on how to improve the stability in thin films, and also how we can make use of spinodal dewetting to our advantage.