No Arabic abstract
We investigate the relaxation behavior of thin films of a polyamide random copolymer, PA66/6I, with various film thicknesses using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy. Two dielectric signals are observed at high temperatures, the $alpha$-process and the relaxation process due to electrode polarization (the EP-process). The relaxation time of the EP-process has a Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann type of temperature dependence, and the glass transition temperature, $T_{rm g}$, evaluated from the EP-process agrees very well with the $T_{rm g}$ determined from the thermal measurements. The fragility index derived from the EP-process increases with decreasing film thickness. The relaxation time and the dielectric relaxation strength of the EP-process are described by a linear function of the film thickness $d$ for large values of $d$, which can be regarded as experimental evidence for the validity of attributing the observed signal to the EP-process. Furthermore, there is distinct deviation from this linear law for thicknesses smaller than a critical value. This deviation observed in thinner films is associated with an increase in the mobility and/or diffusion constant of the charge carriers responsible for the EP-process. The $alpha$-process is located in a high frequency region than the EP-process at high temperatures, but merges with the EP-process at lower temperatures near the glass transition region. The thickness dependence of the relaxation time of the $alpha$-process is different from that of the EP-process. This suggests that there is decoupling between the segmental motion of the polymers and the translational motion of the charge carriers in confinement.
In this work, Flory-Huggins phase diagrams for correlated random copolymers with realistic chain lengths are calculated. This is achieved in two steps. At first we derive a distribution function of copolymer chains with respect to composition and blockiness. Then we used the method of moments, which was developed by Sollich and Cates [Sollich, P.; Cates, M. E.; Phys. Rev. Lett. 1998, 80, 1365-1368] for polydisperse systems, to reduce the number of degrees of freedom of the computational problem and calculate phase diagrams. We explored how location of transition points and composition of coexisting phases depend on copolymer composition, blockiness and degree of polymerisation. The proposed approach allows to take into account fractionation, which was shown to have effect on the appearance of phase diagrams of statistical copolymers.
Solvent vapor annealing (SVA) is known to be a simple, low-cost and highly efficient technique to produce defect-free diblock copolymer (BCP) thin films. Not only can the solvent weaken the BCP segmental interactions, but it can vary the characteristic spacing of the BCP microstructures. We carry out systematic theoretical studies on the effect of adding solvent into lamellar BCP thin films on the defect removal close to the BCP order-disorder transition. We find that the increase of the lamellar spacing, as is induced by addition of solvent, facilitates more efficient removal of defects. The stability of a particular defect in a lamellar BCP thin film is given in terms of two key controllable parameters: the amount of BCP swelling and solvent evaporation rate. Our results highlight the SVA mechanism for obtaining defect-free BCP thin films, as is highly desired in nanolithography and other industrial applications.
We present detailed systematic studies of structural transformations in thin liquid crystal films with the smectic-C to hexatic phase transition. For the first time all possible structures reported in the literature are observed for one material (5 O.6) at the variation of temperature and thickness. In unusual modulated structures the equilibrium period of stripes is twice with respect to the domain size. We interpret these patterns in the frame work of phenomenological Landau type theory, as equilibrium phenomena produced by a natural geometric frustration in a system having spontaneous splay distortion.
The glass transition temperature and relaxation dynamics of the segmental motions of thin films of polystyrene labeled with a dye, 4-[N-ethyl-N-(hydroxyethyl)]amino-4-nitraozobenzene (Disperse Red 1, DR1) are investigated using dielectric measurements. The dielectric relaxation strength of the DR1-labeled polystyrene is approximately 65 times larger than that of the unlabeled polystyrene above the glass transition, while there is almost no difference between them below the glass transition. The glass transition temperature of the DR1-labeled polystyrene can be determined as a crossover temperature at which the temperature coefficient of the electric capacitance changes from the value of the glassy state to that of the liquid state. The glass transition temperature of the DR1-labeled polystyrene decreases with decreasing film thickness in a reasonably similar manner to that of the unlabeled polystyrene thin films. The dielectric relaxation spectrum of the DR1-labeled polystyrene is also investigated. As thickness decreases, the $alpha$-relaxation time becomes smaller and the distribution of the $alpha$-relaxation times becomes broader. These results show that thin films of DR1-labeled polystyrene are a suitable system for investigating confinement effects of the glass transition dynamics using dielectric relaxation spectroscopy.
We report on the direct measurement of the electron-phonon relaxation time, {tau}eph, in disordered TiN films. Measured values of {tau}eph are from 5.5 ns to 88 ns in the 4.2 to 1.7 K temperature range and consistent with a T-3 temperature dependence. The electronic density of states at the Fermi level N0 is estimated from measured material parameters. The presented results confirm that thin TiN films are promising candidate-materials for ultrasensitive superconducting detectors.