Nanofabrication of polymer surfaces utilizing colloidal lithography and ion etching

In this paper, we utilize colloidal lithography based on electrostatic self-assembly of polystyrene colloidal particles onto a polymer surface as a nanoscale mask. The pattern is then transferred to the surface by ion beam etching. Each particle acts as an individual mask, resulting in an array of identical structure. Ion beam exposure etches away the unmasked surface between the particles, so the particle mask pattern can be transferred into the polymer surface. This method allows to nanofabricate bulk polymeric surfaces with systematic variation in relief, structure sizes, and aspect ratios. It is a fast, simple, and reliable method to fabricated different polymeric surfaces even on large area samples (> 1 cm2). The structural variation is achieved by use of different conditions during the self-assembly of the mask (e.g., different particles sizes) or different ion etching conditions during the pattern transfer (e.g., ion energy, ion flux, ion incident angle, etching time, gas environment).