Abstract
Nucleation and growth of holes in free-standing ultrathin (<100 nm) polymer films are examinedviaopticalmicroscopyinordertogainabetterunderstandingofthesephenomena.Holenucleation is quantified with a free energy barrier based on a simple capillary model. Additionally, holes are found to grow exponentially in accordance with previous studies in the literature. Ultrathin films of polystyrene (between50and100nm)castviaflowcoatingaresuspendedatoplithographicallypatternedarraysofpillars. The films are then annealed above the glass transition temperature to study the nucleation and growth of holes via optical microscopy. Image analysis is performed tomeasure the density ofnucleated holes as well as hole radius as a function of time. Holes are found to grow exponentially with time in a nonlinear viscoelastic, shearthinningregimeunderhighshearstrain.Theenergybarriermodelisappliedtothenucleationofholesin free-standing thin films and is found to describe the phenomenon well. This analysis of hole nucleation and growth extends the understanding of ongoing research into suspended fiber formation from the melting of free-standing polymer thin films.
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