Chapter 5
Modified iSAFT: Application to
symmetric diblock copolymers
5.1 Introduction
Recent research in the field of diblock copolymer-thin films have been spurred
by their potential applications in the development of the next generation of sub mi-
cron scale electronic and optical devices [126] and lithographic templates for semi-
conductors [127]. An important area of research in this field has been the symmetric
C
(AB) diblock copolymers. These are block copolymers formed by (covalently) bond-
ing two immiscible (A and B) homopolymers such that the volume fractions of the
homopolymers in a copolymer molecule are identical. The covalent bond restricts
the macroscopic separation of these chemically dissimilar homopolymer blocks which
leads to the formation of А-rich and В-rich lamellae at length scales comparable to
112