Multimedia Gallery - Directed assembly transforms nanoscale disorder (left) into order (right).

June 2, 2005

Directed assembly transforms nanoscale disorder (left) into order (right).

Left to its own devices, the "block copolymer" mix used by the University of Wisconsin group will congeal into a disordered pattern resembling a fingerprint (left). But the directed assembly process can transform that pattern into highly ordered stripes or bends (right). These well-aligned geometries are commonly used in the nanofabrication of integrated circuits and microelectronic devices.

Credit: Mark Stoykovich and Paul Nealey

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