Imprint directed self-assembly of cylinder-forming Si-containing block copolymer for 6nm half-pitch line patterning

A new imprint directed self-assembly (DSA) route is developed for creating high resolution line patterns consisting of in-plane polystyrene- block -polydimethylsiloxane (PS- b - PDMS) cylinders. Resist line prepatterns are prepared by nanoimprint and trimmed by oxygen plasma to proper feature geometry and dimension. Registered block copolymer line patterns with exceptional long-range order are generated after DSA then, with the smallest half-pitch of 6 nm or so. Excellent stretching capability of PS- b -PDMS polymer chains indicates a broad process window for DSA. Initial pattern transfer results at 16.5 nm pitch imply the potential of this approach for future nanodevice fabrication at ultra-high pattern resolution.