Tuesday, June 16, 2015

KAIST on BCP lithography for flexible nanoelectronics

Here is an impressive overview from Prof. Keon Jae Lee and co-workers at KAIST on directed block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly for applications for electronic and energy devices.

The semiconductor industry depend on conventional lithography (Optical Lithography) based on a light source, photoresist materials and photo masks. A number of alternative patterning techniques have been developed  to improve the pattern resolution. However, the limitation has been that of light diffraction which is wave length dependent and reducing the wave length has become a major cost issue for the new technologies of the light source. Another major drawback is that the leading technology is wafer based and there is a drive to integrate future device on flexible substrates and reduce the overall cost of lithography and device production by either large area panels (e.g. displays, solar cells) or roll to roll flexible foil production technologies.

The next-generation lithographic techniques on the nanometer scale are:
  • electron-beam lithography (EBL) - low throughput
  • nanoimprinting lithography (NIL) - requires a costly master template
  • directed block copolymer (BCP) self-assembly - relies spontaneous microscopic phase separation of covalently linked polymer blocks

Performance Enhancement of Electronic and Energy Devices via Block Copolymer Self-Assembly

Hyeon  Gyun Yoo, Myunghwan Byun, Chang Kyu Jeong, and Keon Jae Lee 
Adv. Mater. 2015,
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201501592

The use of self-assembled block copolymers (BCPs) for the fabrication of electronic and energy devices has received a tremendous amount of attention as a non-traditional approach to patterning integrated circuit elements at nanometer dimensions and densities inaccessible to traditional lithography techniques. The exquisite control over the dimensional features of the self-assembled nanostructures (i.e., shape, size, and periodicity) is one of the most attractive properties of BCP self-assembly. Harmonic spatial arrangement of the self-assembled nanoelements at desired positions on the chip may offer a new strategy for the fabrication of electronic and energy devices. Several recent reports show the great promise in using BCP self-assembly for practical applications of electronic and energy devices, leading to substantial enhancements of the device performance. Recent progress is summarized here, with regard to the performance enhancements of non-volatile memory, electrical sensor, and energy devices enabled by directed BCP self-assembly.

No comments:

Post a Comment