UChicago PME Thesis Defense: Christopher Eom

In the development of new block copolymers (BCPs) that can satisfy the multiple covarying properties necessary to meet manufacturing criteria in nanolithography, a body of recent work has explored the use of BCPs exhibiting a block containing groups amenable to click chemistry towards access to high-throughput libraries of block random copolymers (BRCs). In my thesis defense, I will talk about ways I have sought to expand on this precedent during my PhD to explore both the polymer physics associated with phase separation behavior and the application of BRCs to directed self-assembly as an industrially significant process for patterning. My efforts have included introducing a new click chemistry approach to synthesizing A-b-(B-r-C) BCPs, where each copolymer component can be chemically selected towards engineering dry etch contrast within its design, and investigating BCP libraries bearing a “double amide” side chain structure, where computational insights shed light on the effects of dipole moment and packing on observed behaviors.

Zoom: https://uchicago.zoom.us/j/91296105451?pwd=WfvwjKbjWy3wOYGqMhcVvwyk7re9vI.1

Meeting ID: 912 9610 5451

Passcode: 188114