High-resolution patterning of solution-processable materials via externally engineered pinning of capillary bridges

Shunpu Li, Young Tea Chun, Shuo Zhao, Hyungju Ahn, Docheon Ahn, Jung Inn Sohn, Yongbing Xu, Pawan Shrestha, Mike Pivnenko and Daping Chu ()
Additional contact information
Shunpu Li: University of Cambridge
Young Tea Chun: University of Cambridge
Shuo Zhao: University of York
Hyungju Ahn: Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH
Docheon Ahn: Pohang Accelerator Laboratory, POSTECH
Jung Inn Sohn: University of Oxford
Yongbing Xu: University of York
Pawan Shrestha: University of Cambridge
Mike Pivnenko: University of Cambridge
Daping Chu: University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Electronics based on solution-processable materials are promising for applications in many fields which stimulated enormous research interest in liquid-drying and pattern formation. However, assembling of structure with submicrometre/nanometre resolution through liquid process is very challenging. We show a simple method to rapidly generate polymer structures with deep-submicrometre-sized features over large areas. In this method, a solution film is dried on a substrate under a suspended flexible template with groove/ridge surface topography. Upon solvent evaporation, the solution splits in the grooves and forms capillary bridges between the template and substrate, which are firmly pinned by the edges of the template grooves. This groove pinning stabilizes the contact lines, thereby allowing the formation of fine patterned structures with high aspect ratios which were used to fabricate various functional materials and electronic devices. We also produced secondary self-assembled nano-stripe patterns with resolutions of about 50 nm on the primary lines.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-02835-7 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-02835-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-02835-7

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().