Directed self-assembly (DSA) of block copolymers is one of the most promising patterning techniques for patterning sub-10 nm features. However, at such small feature sizes, it is becoming increasingly difficult to fabricate the guiding pattern for the DSA process, and it is necessary to explore alternative guiding methods for DSA to achieve long-range ordered alignment. Here, we report the self-aligned assembly of a triblock copolymer, poly(2-vinylpyridine)-b-polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP-b-PS-b-P2VP) on neutral graphene nanoribbons with the gap consisting of a P2VP-preferential silicon oxide (SiO₂) substrate via solvent vapor annealing. The assembled P2VP-b-PS-b-P2VP demonstrated long-range, one-dimensional alignment on the graphene substrate in a direction perpendicular to the boundary of the graphene and substrate with a half-pitch size of 8 nm, which greatly alleviates the lithography resolution required for traditional chemoepitaxy DSA. A wide processing window is demonstrated with the gap between graphene stripes varying from 10 to 100 nm, overcoming the restriction on widths of guiding patterns to have commensurate domain spacing. When the gap was reduced to 10 nm, P2VP-b-PS-b-P2VP formed a straight-line pattern on both the graphene and the substrate. Monte Carlo simulations showed that the self-aligned assembly of the triblock copolymer on the graphene nanoribbons is guided at the boundary of parallel and perpendicular lamellae on graphene and SiO₂, respectively. Simulations also indicate that the swelling of a system allows for rapid rearrangement of chains and quickly anneal any misaligned grains and defects. The effect of the interaction strength between SiO₂ and P2VP on the self-assembly is systematically investigated in simulations.

中文翻译：

---

石墨烯纳米带上聚（2-乙烯基吡啶）-b-聚苯乙烯-b-聚（2-乙烯基吡啶）三嵌段共聚物的自对准组装

嵌段共聚物的定向自组装 (DSA) 是用于图案化亚 10 nm 特征的最有前途的图案化技术之一。然而，在如此小的特征尺寸下，制造用于 DSA 工艺的引导图案变得越来越困难，有必要探索 DSA 的替代引导方法以实现远程有序对齐。-在这里，我们报告了自对准的三嵌段共聚物的组件，聚（2-乙烯基吡啶）b -polystyrene- b -聚（2-乙烯基吡啶）（P2VP- b -PS- b上与中性石墨烯纳米带-P2VP）由 P2VP 优先氧化硅 (SiO ₂) 衬底通过溶剂蒸汽退火。组装的 P2VP-b-PS-b-P2VP 在石墨烯衬底上在垂直于石墨烯和衬底边界的方向上表现出长距离、一维排列，半节距尺寸为 8 nm，极大地缓解了传统化学外延 DSA 所需的光刻分辨率。石墨烯条纹之间的间隙从 10 到 100 nm 不等，证明了宽处理窗口，克服了对引导图案宽度的限制，以具有相称的域间距。当间隙减小到 10 nm 时，P2VP- b -PS- b-P2VP 在石墨烯和基板上形成直线图案。蒙特卡罗模拟表明，石墨烯纳米带上的三嵌段共聚物的自对准组装分别在石墨烯和 SiO ₂上平行和垂直薄片的边界处被引导。模拟还表明，系统的膨胀允许链的快速重排并快速退火任何未对准的晶粒和缺陷。在模拟中系统地研究了SiO ₂和P2VP之间的相互作用强度对自组装的影响。