Paper SS-ThP16
Surface Characterization of Hydrophobic Thin Films Deposited by Various Plasma Polymerization Methods

Thursday, October 23, 2008, 6:00 pm, Room Hall D

Plasma polymerization is a thin film deposition process and may be uniformly coated onto any substrate. Plasma polymers generally have different properties from those of conventional polymers due to their unique properties. Plasma polymer films have been used in a variety of applications including barrier coating, protective coating, anti-scratching coating, and dielectric layer in microelectronics. In this study, plasma-polymerized films fabricated by three different type plasma such as inductively coupled plasma (ICP), capacitively coupled plasma (CCP), and pulsed-plasma (PP). Different kinds of hydrocarbon gases and fluorine-containing gases were mixed to investigate their effect on the films. Also, process parameters for plasma polymerization such as gas ratio, gas pressure, plasma power, pulse width, and processing time were investigated. The physical properties of plasma-polymerized thin films made by three different methods were characterized using water contact angle measurement and mechanical test. The adhesion strength between plasma-polymerized thin film and substrate was measured by 90° peel test, and the mechanical properties of plasma-polymerized thin film surface were investigated by indentation. Surface analytical instruments such as Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), near-edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) were also used to provide useful information about the chemical properties such as surface composition and functional groups.