High-Resolution Metal Nanopatterning by Means of Switchable Block Copolymer Templates

In this review, recent developments in the fabrication of hexagonal and parallel ordered arrays of metallic nanodomains on a substrate are described. We focus on the nanopatterning approach by means of switchable block copolymer thin films. This approach is highly advantageous, because it can lead to extremely regular patterns with metal subunits of only a few nanometers in diameter and center-to-center distances of tens of nanometers. Hence, the resulting 1D or 2D periodic arrays of metal nanodots and nanowires on silicon substrates can be fabricated with extremely high unit densities and on very large areas. The templated deposition of presynthesized metal nanoparticles on functional block copolymers is described in detail. Current challenges are discussed and an outlook for further developments is given.