Orientation and relaxation behaviors of lamellar microdomains of poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(n-butyl acrylate) thin films as revealed by grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering

The orientation behavior and domain spacing relaxation of the phase-separated structure of poly(methyl methacrylate-b-n-butyl acrylate) thin films were investigated by grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). Moreover, low-energy GISAXS was performed for the in-depth profiling of the lamellar structure. The domain spacing (D ||) relaxation took longer than the orientation of the lamellae. Furthermore, the D || in the vicinity of the surface was greater than inside the film, which indicates that the D || near the surface relaxed faster than inside due to the higher mobility of the polymer chain.