Nanopattern Evolution in Block Copolymer Films: Experiment, Simulations and Challenges

The present contribution reviews novel insights into block copolymer phase behavior and nanostructure formation in confined geometries. We focus on state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical progress in this area, with an emphasis on characterization methods and techniques that provide a quantitative framework for fundamental analysis. We discuss and compare basic system parameters that are readily controlled in simulations and in experiments, and present comparative stud- ies of increasing degree of complexity concerning the phase behavior and ordering dynamics of cylinder- and lamella-forming block copolymers in thin films.