PHASE SEPARATION IN PATTERNED STRUCTURES

摘要

Novel phase-separation behavior by a mixture, including binary mixture, of patterning compounds, including alkanethiols, when deposited onto a surface, including a gold surface, using micro and nano-deposition tools such as tip and stamp methods like micro-contact printing (µCP), and Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN). This behavior is significantly different than that observed in the bulk. This behavior was demonstrated using three examples of compounds: 16-mercaptohexadecanoic acid (MHA), 1-octadecanethiol (ODT), and CF₃(CF₂)₁₁(CH₂)₂SH (PFT). The identity of the resulting segregated structure was confirmed by lateral force microscopy (LFM), and by selective metal-organic coordination chemistry. This phenomenon is exploited to print sub- 100 nm wide alkanethiol features via conventional µCP and to form sub- 15 nm features using DPN printing, which is below the ultimate resolution of both these techniques. These nano-patterned materials also can serve as templates for constructing more complex architectures.