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Interaction between model poly(ethylene terephthalate) thin films and weakly ionised oxygen plasma
Author(s) -
Doliška Aleš,
Vesel Alenka,
Kolar Metod,
StanaKleinschek Karin,
Mozetič Miran
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.3769
Subject(s) - quartz crystal microbalance , etching (microfabrication) , oxygen , surface roughness , analytical chemistry (journal) , quartz , plasma , reactive ion etching , ethylene , crystal (programming language) , plasma etching , materials science , surface finish , ion , chemistry , nanotechnology , layer (electronics) , catalysis , composite material , chromatography , organic chemistry , adsorption , physics , quantum mechanics , computer science , programming language
Model films of poly(ethylene terephthalate) were treated by oxygen plasma in order to quantify the etching rate and estimate the contribution of charged and neutral particles to the reaction probability. Model films with a thickness of 50 nm were deposited on a quartz crystal of a microbalance (QCM) by spin‐coating technique. The samples were exposed to oxygen plasma with the positive ion density of 4 × 10 15 m −3 and neutral oxygen atom density of 6 × 10 21 m −3 . The etching rate was determined from the QCM signal and was 4.7 nm s −1 . The etching was found rather inhomogeneous as the atomic force microscopic images showed an increase of the surface roughness as a result of plasma treatment. The model films were completely removed from the surface of the quartz crystals in about 12 s. Knowing the etching rate and the flux of oxygen atoms to the surface allowed for calculation of the reaction probability which was found to be rather low at the value of 1.6 × 10 −4 . Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.