NSF Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing, Northeastern University, University of Massachusetts Lowell Nanoscale patterned polymeric structures with multiple surface functionalities can be used for the fabrication of microphotonic arrays, biosensors, and semiconductor integrated circuits. The directed assembly of polymer blends into nanoscale structures offers an advantage in that a wide array of polymers and molecular weights are readily available for use. In contrast to block copolymers, blends have greater flexibility in forming non-uniform structures and are not constrained in terms of domain size by the block length. Additionally, the use of chemically functionalized nanotemplates can be exploited to direct the nanoscale assembly of polymer blends into non-uniform patterns in relatively short timescales. The use of a short solvent annealing step allows the preparation of non-uniform geometries and multiple length scales in a single template.

NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing (CHM), University of Massachusetts Amherst Patterned metal oxide films having well-defined order and morphology are essential device layers in microelectronics, photovoltaics, and microfluidics for separations and sensors.  In a typical fabrication process sequence, a planar metal oxide film is deposited, coated with multi-layer resist structures, patterned by optical lithography, etched, stripped, ashed, and cleaned to generate a patterned oxide film.  This cycle often consists of 10 or more process steps.  Moreover, the resolution of current lithography and etch techniques limit the minimum feature size precluding the direct fabrication of complex geometric structures.

NSF Center for Scalable and Integrated NanoManufacturing (SINAM), University of California Berkeley  In order to leverage the dramatic advancements in nano-scale science and engineering, there is an urgent need for versatile, high-throughput nanofabrication technologies that are adaptable to frequent design changes. Commonly used mask-less nano-lithography methods, such as electron-beam, focused ion-beam and scanning-probe lithography, can provide the desired flexibility, but prove to be rather limited by their throughput, mainly due to their slow scanning capabilities.

NSF Center for Hierarchical Manufacturing, University of Massachusetts AmherstThe rapid generation of highly-ordered arrays of nanoscopic elements with periodicities of <30 nm render the self-assembly of block copolymers (BCPs) ideal scaffolds and templates for nanofabrication. However, several crucial limitations to enable a broad-based adaptation of BCPs in nanomanufacturing must be addressed in order to demonstrate viability of this approach through well-defined product-oriented outcomes. Based on the approach of BCP templating, the focus of this testbed element includes the production of high-volume, cost-sensitive products (e.g., organic electronics, photovoltaics, energy storage, and flexible displays) that require high-rate processing, low materials cost and an ability to functionalize or modify the BCP template.