Templated self-assembly of block copolymers: Top-down helps bottom-up

Self-assembling block polymers can act as the building blocks of future advanced nanotechnologies based on bottorn-up fabrication methods. Top-down lithographic approaches offer arbitrary geometrical designs and superior nanometer-level precision, accuracy, and registration, as illustrated in the figure. By combining bottom-up, self-assembly with top-down patterned templates, templated-self-assembly (TSA) emerges as an innovative nanofabrication method.