Patternable Mesoporous Thin Film Quantum Materials via Block Copolymer Self-Assembly: An Emergent Technology?

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Quantum Materials
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Quantum materials are crucial for advancing energy and information technologies.
• Soft matter self-assembly, particularly using block copolymers (BCPs), offers scalable routes to quantum metamaterials.
• Developing facile methods for fabricating tunable quantum materials is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To prepare patternable, mesoporous niobium carbonitride thin film superconductors.
• To utilize block copolymers and solution processing for quantum material fabrication.
• To demonstrate the potential of soft matter self-assembly in creating high-quality quantum materials.

Main Methods:

• Spin-coating of a hybrid solution containing amphiphilic block copolymers and niobia sol precursors.
• Thermal processing in air to create porous oxides, followed by conversion to carbonitrides using reactive gases (e.g., ammonia).
• Photolithography for pattern definition, grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) for mesostructure analysis, and wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) for crystal structure confirmation.

Main Results:

• Ordered mesostructures with a distorted alternating gyroid morphology were observed in the BCP-niobia films.
• Phase-pure niobium carbonitride nanocrystals with rock-salt lattices were successfully synthesized within the mesoscale networks.
• The thin films exhibited superconductivity with zero resistivity at 12.8 K and a superconducting upper critical field exceeding 16 T.

Conclusions:

• Scalable, cost-effective solution-based fabrication of niobium carbonitride thin films is achievable.
• The developed method integrates soft matter self-assembly with microelectronics processing for quantum material production.
• These findings hold significant potential for both academic research and industrial applications in quantum technologies.