Pattern-Directed Dewetting of Ultrathin Polymer Films

We utilize chemically patterned substrates with arrays of progressively narrower stripes (1−15 μm) to investigate the influence of pattern size on the morphology of ultrathin dewetting polystyrene films. The scale and orientation of the spinodal-like height fluctuations of the dewetting patterns are coupled to the imposed substrate chemical frequency, providing a powerful means of morphological control. Dewetting patterns are correlated to the substrate pattern period leading to the formation of droplet arrays. The measurements confirm recent numerical simulations by Kargupta and Sharma of the existence of upper and lower cutoff scales for pattern recognition of a dewetting fluid. For pattern dimensions less than the characteristic scale on nonpatterned substrates, the droplets become anisotropic as they coarsen to a scale comparable to the stripe width, and then undergo a morphological transition to circular droplets that cross multiple stripes. This leads to quantization of droplet size and contact angles, as indicated by theory.