Fig. 4

Surface characteristics of plasma treated polymer films with and without the filter. a Etch rate of PS-b-PMMA (SML100, black) and PS-b-PDMS (SDC16, blue) BCP films with (filled circle) and without (empty circle) the filter in a 200 W Ar plasma. b, c XPS spectra of PS (b, C1s) and PMMA (c, O1s) homopolymers: pristine film, after filtered plasma treatment (200 W, 60 s) and after plasma without filter (200 W, 10 s) with incidence angles of 0° and 70°. d–f Water contact angles of homopolymer films (black (PS) and red (PMMA, PDMS or P2VP, squares), as-cast BCPs (SML100, SDL43 or SVL84, blue hollow squares), filtered plasma treated BCPs (blue squares) and unfiltered plasma treated BCPs (green squares). Error bar represent the standard error of measured water contact angle from at least five independent experiments. g, h Orientational phase diagrams of (g) SML100 and (h) SDL43 treated with a filtered plasma for different powers and times. A red standing rectangle represents condition that yield perpendicular orientation of the microdomains, and a lying rectangle is a parallel orientation, a filled square is a mixed orientation, a crossed square is a partial perpendicular, an empty square is no morphology on top, and a hexagon is wrinkled morphology