Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 69-76
Stability of thin polymer films on a corrugated substrate
N. Rehse, C. Wang, M. Hund, M. Geoghegan, R. Magerle and G. Krausch.Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie II and Bayreuther Zentrum für Kolloide und Grenzflächen (BZKG), Universität Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany mark.geoghegan@sheffield.ac.uk
georg.krausch@uni-bayreuth.de
(Received 6 April 2000 and Received in final form 24 August 2000)
Abstract
We study the wetting behaviour of thin polystyrene (PS)
films on regularly corrugated silicon substrates. Below a critical
film thickness the PS films are unstable and dewet the substrates.
The dewetting process leads to the formation of nanoscopic PS
channels filling the grooves of the corrugated substrates. Films
thicker than the critical thickness appear stable and follow the
underlying corrugation pattern. The critical thickness is found to
scale with the radius of gyration of the unperturbed polymer
chains.
68.45.Gd - Wetting.
68.15.+e - Liquid thin films.
61.41.+e - Polymers, elastomers, and plastics.
© EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2001