Proceedings Article | 30 December 2008
Proc. SPIE. 7270, Biomedical Applications of Micro- and Nanoengineering IV and Complex Systems
KEYWORDS: Thin films, Nanostructures, Nanostructuring, Polymers, Annealing, Silicon, Atomic force microscopy, Silicon films, Semiconducting wafers, Bacteria
Self-assembling polymers have recently attracted significant scientific interest, since they spontaneously generate highly
ordered structures with high resolution precision, and provide simple, parallel, and cost-effective processes for
nanofabrication. Such systems can be achieved with block copolymers which, when produced as thin films, offer great
potential as lithographic templates for the fabrication of photonic band-gap materials, ultrahigh-density nanodots or
nanowire arrays, memory and capacitor devices, and nano-patterned substrates for biosensors. Although self-assembling
block copolymers can form a variety of surface topographies at the nm scale, like spheres, cylinders, and lamellae, their
structural steering through the annealing conditions has in many cases not been fully investigated. In the present
investigation optimum production conditions for the preparation of nanostructures from poly(styrene)-block-poly(MMA)
diblock copolymers have been established to enable the production of surfaces as thin films (<40 nm) on spin-coated
silicon wafers either with parallel cylindrical structures or with vertical cylinders. The resulting self-assembling
structures were then evaluated by atomic force microscopy. The obtained nanostructured polymers were then incubated
with two microbial species, the gram negative <i>E. coli</i> and the gram positive <i>S. aureus</i> to assess their behaviour. The
patterns of the thin film surfaces affected the bacterial attachment. Such self assembly processes can be used to create
surfaces acting as bacterial attractants or repellents.
