Early stages of dewetting of microscopically thin polymer films: A molecular dynamics study

We present results from a molecular dynamics simulation of the dewetting process of microscopically thin polymer films cast on a solid surface. The chain length and time scales accessed in the present simulation would correspond to early stages of the dewetting process before hydrodynamic interactions become important. Even though the surface in contact with the film is purely repulsive, we find that there is a "nucleation time" for dry patches to appear due to the competition between the interfacial energy and the surface energy contributions. Kinetics of growth of dry patches during the early stages of the dewetting process is controlled by surface diffusion of polymers. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-9606(98)51143-9].