Phototactic Mass Transport in Polymer Films for Micropatterning and Alignment of Functional Materials

Abstract

A new micropatterning technique based on photoinduced mass transport in a polymer film is presented. The Figure shows a rod‐like dye crystallized aligned along a surface relief grating (SRG) on an azobenzene polymer film produced by photoirradiation through a photomask. The uniaxial alignment is achieved by one‐dimensional diffusion—restricted by the grating geometry—of the dye molecule.