Modeling the Self-assembly of Block Copolymers Upon Solvent Evaporation in Thin Films with Dynamical Self-consistent Field Theory*

The evaporation of solvent from a block copolymer solution is a method widely used to self-assemble block copolymers in thin films.  Due to a vast parameter space and the nonequilibrium nature of the evaporation process, reliably generating well-ordered structures remains a great challenge.  We use Dynamical Self-consistent Field Theory (DSCFT) to model the evaporation of a diblock copolymer solution by controlling the rate of solvent diffusion out of the film.  The effect of tuning parameters such as solvent volatility, solvent selectivity towards one of the blocks, and block copolymer composition on the self-assembly is investigated.