Selective growth and ordering of self-assembly on metal/polymer thin-film heterostructures via photothermal modulation

Abstract

We show photothermal perturbation of morphology on planar aluminum/polymethyl methacrylate films, leading to alignment of location-specific self-assembled patterns. Local laser heating regularizes pattern formation in a selected area by inducing compressive stress in the metal layer as well as partial relaxation in the underlying polymer layer. Furthermore, this thermomechanical process enables the formation of complex structures such as line-gratings and concentric rings when an interferometric heating scheme is employed. Our photolithography-free technique achieves the spatial selectivity and controllability of growth initiation, providing a simpler way for bottom-up fabrication approach for integration of multicomponent devices.