Toward a model for pattern formation in ultrathin-film binary mixtures

The coupling between surface-driven instabilities and compositional instabilities in a ultrathin-film binary mixtures was insvestigated using a a simple model. The model gives relationships for the stability in terms of the height of the film and the various thermodynamic parameters. The dynamics of simultaneous dewetting and phase separation in polymer blend thin films was also investugated. It was found that if dewetting occured more faster than phase separation, the pattern formation of the compositional morphology of the film became 'directed'.