Ordering of self-assembled 5-nm-diameter poly(dimethylsiloxane) nanodots with sub-10 nm pitch using ultra-narrow electron-beam-drawn guide lines and three-dimensional control

Abstract

We demonstrate the possibility of forming long-range ordered self-assembled arrays of 5-nm-diameter nanodots with pitch of 10 × 7.5 nm2 using guide line templates and low molecular weight (MW) (4700–1200 g/mol) poly(styrene)-poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PS-PDMS) for application in ultrahigh density patterned magnetic recording media. We propose a three-dimensional control which involves control of the height of the guide lines, the thickness of the PS-PDMS films, and the gap between the guide lines in order to produce 5-nm-diameter, sub-10 nm pitched nanodots with long-range order along the guide lines. Adopting a 13-nm-thick PS-PDMS film and 14-nm-high resist guide lines, the 5-nm-diameter and 10 × 7.5 nm2-pitched self-assembled nanodots were ordered in 4–7 dot arrays with long-range order. The experimental results demonstrate that the method is suitable for the production of patterned media with magnetic recording densities of 8.6 Tbit/in.2 using low MW PS-PDMS and slim guide lines.