Metal nanodot arrays fabricated via seed-mediated electroless plating with block copolymer thin film scaffolding

We present an alternative approach to fabricating hexagonally arranged nanodot arrays of various metals by seed-mediated electroless plating with a cylinder-forming block copolymer thin film, PEO-b-PMA(Az), as a scaffold. Metal ions were selectively incorporated into PEO cylinders, followed by their reduction to metal and the etching of the scaffold to obtain highly ordered seed arrays of Au, Pd, and Pt. Nanodot arrays of the target metals (Au, Ag, and Ni) were selectively grown on the seed with their highly ordered arrangement by electroless plating. We studied the fabrication processes' suitability for control of the nanodot array size, as well as the plasmonic properties thereof.