Limits of Directed Self-Assembly in Block Copolymers

Understanding the conditions under which defects appear in self-assembling soft-matter systems is of great importance, for example, in the development of block-copolymer (BCP) nanolithography. Here, we explore the limits of the directed self-assembly of BCPs by deliberately adding random imperfections to the template. Our results show that defects emerge due to local shear-like distortions of the polymer-template system, a new mechanism that is fundamentally different from the canonical mechanisms of 2D melting. Furthermore, our results provide a general criterion for melting, obtaining the highest tolerance to random deviations from the perfect template at about 0.1L(0), where L-0 is the natural BCP periodicity. These findings establish the limits of directed self-assembly of BCPs and can be extended to other classes of materials with soft interactions.