Fabrication of Uniaxially Aligned Silica Nanogrooves with Sub-5 nm Periodicity on Centimeter-Scale Si Substrate Using Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Stamps

The large-area fabrication of aligned nanopatterns with sub-5 nm feature size is crucial for developing nanodevices. Highly ordered nanostructures fabricated through molecular self-assembly exhibit substantial potential for sub-5 nm patterning techniques. Previously, we had reported the fabrication of silica nanogrooves with sub-5 nm periodicity on a Si substrate by using the outermost surfaces of cylindrical surfactant micelles as a template. However, uniaxial alignment of nanogrooves on the entire substrate surface has not yet been achieved. In this study, uniaxially aligned silica nanogrooves were prepared on the entire surface of a Si substrate (2 cm × 2 cm) by utilizing a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) stamp with a striped pattern. The PDMS stamp was placed on the surface of a surfactant thin film precoated on the substrate, although the stamp was not in direct contact with the substrate as in the case of the soft nanoimprint technique. The substrate was then exposed to water vapor, during which cylin...