Grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering -: an advanced scattering technique for the investigation of nanostructured polymer films

With grazing incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS), the limitations of conventional small-angle neutron scattering with respect to extremely small sample volumes in the thin-film geometry are overcome. GISANS turned out to be a powerful advanced scattering technique for the investigation of nanostructured polymer films. Similar to atomic force microscopy the surface topography is probed. In addition, buried structures from inside the film are detectable. As an example of the actual limits, nanostructures resulting from destabilized diblock copolymer films of poly(styrene-block-paramethylstyrene) in the highly confined regime are investigated. The stability of the structure, introduced by toluene vapor treatment, against annealing above the micro-phase separation temperature is shown. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.