Colloidal crystal thin films grown into corrugated surface templates.

The influence of patterned surfaces on the formation of one- and two-dimensional colloidal crystals is analyzed. We have used the corrugated surface of a digital versatile disc (DVD) for template surface processing. When the sphere diameter is on the order of the groove width of patterned substrates, a rich variety of particle decorations appear. However, if particle size is much larger than template patterns, large domains of particle ordering are formed.