2025 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium EL02-Innovations in Directed Self-Assembly for Next-Generation Nanomanufacturing

Directed Self-Assembly (DSA) of polymers or non-polymer materials represents a paradigm shift in materials patterning, offering a pathway to the scalable and cost-effective creation of nanoscale features essential for the next-generation semiconductor and various non-semiconductor applications. This session is designed to explore the recent advancement of DSA technology, from its fundamental principles to its practical applications, seeking to integrate fundamental scientific principles and insights with real-world implementation across various industrial domains. The symposium also aims to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and inspire new directions in the DSA field by combining the expertise of DSA from various research backgrounds.

In this session, discussions will span a wide range of topics in DSA, including the fundamental principles and significant advancements in DSA methodologies, the directed assembly of both polymer and non-polymeric materials, and the cutting-edge materials design, synthesis, and eco-friendly approaches tailored for DSA. The wide-ranging applications of DSA in enhancing electronic devices, energy, and photonic systems will be highlighted, as well as its potential as a complementary technique to Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL). The session also focuses on the computational modeling, machine learning, and simulations integral to optimizing DSA processes alongside advanced characterization techniques and pattern transfer strategies. This session highly focuses on the current state-of-the-art technologies, significant challenges, and the perspective for future developments in DSA research, which is highly relevant to materials science and nanotechnology.


Topics will include:

  • Fundamental principles and advances in directed self-assembly (DSA) methodologies
  • Advances in materials for DSA: design, synthesis, and eco-friendly approaches
  • DSA applications in electronic, energy, and photonic devices, sensors, membranes and beyond
  • DSA as a complementary approach for EUVL and industrial scale-up of DSA
  • Computational modeling, machine learning and simulations for DSA processes
  • Characterization techniques for DSA structures
  • Directed assembly of polymer and non-polymeric materials
  • Equilibrium & non-equilibrium processes for directed self-assembly
  • Advanced pattern transfer strategies

Invited Speakers:

  • Volker Abetz (Universität Hamburg, Germany)
  • Teruaki Hayakawa (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
  • Rong-Ming Ho (National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan)
  • Sang Ouk Kim (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea)
  • R. Joseph Kline (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA)
  • Whitney Loo (University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA)
  • Michael A. Morris (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Cheolmin Park (Yonsei University, Republic of Korea)
  • Michele Perego (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy)
  • Chandra Sarma (Wolfspeed, USA)
  • Ulrich Wiesner (Cornell University, USA)
  • Kevin Yager (Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA)

Symposium Organizers

Paul F. Nealey
The University of Chicago
Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
USA

Su-Mi Hur
Chonnam National University
School of Polymer Science and Engineering
Republic of Korea

Hyeong Min Jin
Chungnam National University
Organic Materials Engineering
Republic of Korea

Tamar Segal-Peretz
Technion–Israel Institute of Technology
Department of Chemical Engineering
Israel

Topics

infiltration (assembly) nanostructure self-assembly thin film