High Density of Line Pattern by Using De-Wetting During Soft-Lithography

Here we prepared highly reliable and high density of pattern by using de-wetting induced soft-lithography. Additional line pattern arising from de-wetting of PS is generated in the protrusion of poly-dimethyl-siloxane (PDMS) mold by controlling thermal annealing time and molecular weight of PS. We found that such de-wetting and pattern formation is not dependent on the PS film thickness, but strongly influenced by molecular weight and annealing time of PS. These results indicate that high molecular weight of PS with such circumstance suppresses the mobility of the polymer chain, enhancing the surface tension of the polymer. We demonstrate that these de-wetting induced patterns attributed to the change of the mobility and the surface tension of PS chains, creating a high density of patterns with high reproducibility.