Buckling of Langmuir–Blodgett films of diacetylenes due to strain induced by polymerization

Buckling of polymeric microstructures produced by electron beam lithography EBL.with different ey-beam doses on Langmuir–Blodgett LB. films of 10–12 pentacosadyinoic acid 12-8 DA. is investigated by means of atomic force microscopy AFM.cross-sectional measurements. A well-known theory of elasticity is applied to analyze the results. Good consistency with a previous determination of the height of the polymer left after development vs. ey-beam dose is found. The buckling amplitude changes with the quarter of the dose, which suggests a square root dependence of the monomer to polymer conversion on ey-beam dose. The careful control of the effect of buckling with ey-beam doses and length of polymeric microstructure may have important application in lift-off processes preformed with DA LB films as negative resists. q2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved