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 e(-)-beam doses on Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of 10 -12 pentacosadyinoic acid (12-8 DA) is investigated by means of atomic forc e microscopy (AFM) cross-sectional measurements. A well-known theory of ela sticity is applied to analyze the results. Good consistency with a previous determination of the height of the polymer left after development vs, e(-) -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 co nversion on e(-)-beam dose. The careful control of the effect of buckling w ith e(-)-beam doses and length of polymeric microstructure may have importa nt application in lift-off processes preformed with DA LB films as negative resists. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.