Nealey Group

Xuanxuan Chen

Xuanxuan received her BE degree in chemical engineering from Tianjin University in 2011 and then joined the chemical engineering graduate program at UW-Madison, where she received her MS degree. She joined PME in January 2013 and is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Chicago.

Directed self-assembly of block copolymers in the Nealey Group has focused on the behavior of thin films (< 150 nm). However, for many applications, thicker films with similar structures are preferred, but the extension of the process from thin to thick films is nontrivial. Block copolymers in thin films are subject to confinement effects, which play a large role in their assembly; these effects fall off as the film thickness increases and the BCP system behavior more closely mirrors that of the bulk. Xuanxuan is investigating this transition as well as methods to control and direct the BCP assembly at various film thicknesses. She characterizes the polymer behavior using in situ X-ray scattering experiments as well as cross-sectional SEM imaging to gather new insight into polymer assembly behavior at the critical film thickness where orientation transition occurs. Additionally, she is researching the formation of through-film structures and methods to direct their development.

Derivation of Multiple Covarying Material and Process Parameters Using Physics-Based Modeling of X-ray Data

Gurdaman Khaira, Manolis Doxastakis, Alec Bowen, Jiaxing Ren, Hyo Seon Suh, Tamar Segal-Peretz, Xuanxuan Chen, Chun Zhou, Adam F. Hannon, Nicola J. Ferrier, Venkatram Vishwanath, Daniel F. Sunday, Roel Gronheid, R. Joseph Kline, Juan J. de Pablo, Paul F. Nealey. Multiple Covarying Material and Process Parameters Using Physics-Based Modeling of X-ray Data. Macromolecules. 7793. Vol. 50, Pg. 7783.

Derivation of multiple covarying material and process parameters using physics-based modeling of X-ray data

Khaira, Gurdaman, et al. "Derivation of multiple covarying material and process parameters using physics-based modeling of X-ray data." Macromolecules 50.19 (2017): 7783-7793.

Characterization of the shape and line-edge roughness of polymer gratings with grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy

Suh, Hyo Seon, et al. "Characterization of the shape and line-edge roughness of polymer gratings with grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering and atomic force microscopy." Journal of Applied Crystallography 49.3 (2016): 823-834.

Characterization of the shape and line-edge roughness of polymer gratings with grazing incidence sma

H. S. Suh, X. Chen, P. A. Rincon-Delgadillo, Z. Jiang, J. Strzalka, J. Wang, W. Chen, R. Gronheid, J. J. de Pablo, N. Ferrier, M. Doxastakis and P. F. Nealey. Characterization of the shape and line-edge roughness of polymer gratings with grazing incidence sma. Journal of Applied Crystallography. 2016. Vol. 49, Pg. 823-834.

Three-Tone Chemical Patterns for Block Copolymer Directed Self Assembly

Williamson, LD; Seidel, RN; Chen, XX; Suh, HS; Delgadillo, PR; Gronheid, R; Nealey, PF. Three-Tone Chemical Patterns for Block Copolymer Directed Self Assembly. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. 2016. Vol. 8, Pg. 2704-2712.

Molecular Transfer Printing of Block Copolymer Patterns over Large Areas with Conformal Layers

T. Inoue, D.W. Janes, J. Ren, H.S. Suh, X. Chen, C.J. Ellison and P.F. Nealey. Molecular Transfer Printing of Block Copolymer Patterns over Large Areas with Conformal Layers. Advanced Materials Interfaces. 2015. Vol. 2.

Grazing-incidence small angle x-ray scattering studies of nanoscale polymer gratings

Doxastakis, Manolis, et al. "Grazing-incidence small angle x-ray scattering studies of nanoscale polymer gratings." Metrology, Inspection, and Process Control for Microlithography XXIX. Vol. 9424. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2015.