Paper TF-TuM3
ToF-SIMS and XPS Characterization of Plasma Polymerized ppAA/Teflon-like Thin Films Interfaces

Tuesday, December 9, 2014, 8:40 am, Room Makai

The availability of the high energy cluster sources open new possibilities in the use of surface analysis techniques such XPS and ToF-SIMS to characterize organic films which are important in different application fields ranging from energy to food and medicine (1, 2). In particular the use of molecular depth profiling allows the investigation of the distribution of molecules within the different layers of organic films and nanostructured materials (3).

Plasma polymerization is a well establish method to deposit controlled thin films on different substrates and it is applied in many industrial and research activities (4, 5).

In this work we report the analysis of multilayers plasma polymerized polyacrylic acid (ppAA) and teflon-like (PTFE) films using XPS and ToF-SIMS. In particular, XPS has been used to verify the surface composition of the different polymeric films, whilst ToF-SIMS depth profiles have been obtained by means of Ar⁺_n and Bi_n⁺ (n=1 and 3) polyatomic sources. Both single beam and dual beam analysis have been investigated and the different parameters (ion energy, analysis fluence and analysis area) have been studied to evaluate the degree of sample damage (6).

Finally, preliminary data on the use of ToF-SIMS depth profiling technique to identify the presence of nanoparticles at ppAA/PTFE interfaces will be also presented and discussed.

1) Mahoney C, Mass Spectrom Rev., 2010, 29(2):247

2) Fletcher J.S. Vickerman J.C., Anal. Chem., 2013, 85 (2), 610

3) A. Shard, I. Gilmore, A. Wucher, In, ToF-SIMS: Materials Analysis by Mass Spectrometry Di John C. Vickerman and David Briggs (Eds), 2013, p311

4) K. S. Siow et al., Plasma Proc. Polym., 2006, 3, 392

5) D. B. Haddow at al., Plasma Proc. Polym., 2006, 3, 419

6) J. Brison et al, J. Phys. Chem. C, 2010, 114, 5565