Hitachi, Ltd.

Feng Chen

Hiroshi Yoshida

Hirokazu Hasegawa

Mikihito Takenaka

Hideki Nagano

A polymer thin film in which cylindrical phases are distributed in a continuous phase and are oriented in a pass-through-direction of the film includes at least: a first block copolymer including at least a block chain A, as a component of the continuous phase, composed of polymerized monomers a, and a block chain B, as a component of the cylindrical phases, composed of polymerized monomers b; and a second block copolymer including at least a block chain A, as a component of the continuous phase, composed of polymerized monomers a, and a block chain B, as a component of the cylindrical phases, composed of polymerized monomers b, with the second copolymer having a degree of polymerization different from that of the first copolymer. A film thickness of the polymer thin film and an average center distance between adjacent cylindrical phases have a relation represented by a predetermined expression.

Polymer thin film, patterned substrate, patterned medium for magnetic recording, and method of manufacturing these articles

It is an object to provide a microstructure having cylindrical microdomains oriented in the film thickness direction and arranged in a regular pattern, for which a microphase separation phenomenon of a block copolymer is utilized. The process for producing the microstructure includes 2 steps; the first step for arranging, on a substrate (), a polymer layer at least containing a block copolymer having a first block which constitutes a continuous phase () of the microstructure () and a second block which constitutes microdomains () dispersed in the continuous phase () and oriented in the thickness direction; and second step for thermally treating the substrate () at a neutral temperature (Tn), at which a first material (A) and second material (B) which constitute the respective first and second blocks have substantially the same interfacial tension with the substrate () surface (X).

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Kyoto, Japan

Feng Chen