| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2018) | |
| Thin Films | Wednesday Sessions |
| Session TF-WeM |
| Session: | Nanostructural and Surface Morphological Evolution: Experiment and Theory |
| Presenter: | Jitesh Hora, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia |
| Authors: | J.H. Hora, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia D. Evans, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia E. Charrault, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia P.J. Murphy, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
Abstract: In order to add a new functionality to materials, applying thin film coatings is among one of a feasible route. Ultra-thin films deposited by physical vapor deposition techniques on plastic substrates have found significant roles in a variety of industrial applications like in electronics, automotive, etc. [1] This is due to their attractive properties such as high electrical conductivity and transparency, light weight, mechanical flexibility and so forth.[1] There are challenges involved for deposition of a film on polymers, like limitation related to the deposition temperature, due to the low thermal stability of the polymers and to control the formation of cracks on coating due to mechanical stress and environmental effects like the effect of humidity and moisture uptake [2]. In order to overcome the challenges, also to minimise the material use and to get the same functionality as that from thick film, there is a fundamental need to understand the seeding and growth of films deposited by physical vapour deposition technique on different polymeric substrates (stiff and flexible) by exploring the effect of compliance of substrates. This research work aims to understand the structure-property relationships of an ultra-thin film (UTF) on different amorphous polymeric materials. Investigating the structure-property relationships of these advanced materials will lead to an understanding of the link between the growth and seeding with the effect of substrates nature and its effect on composite material properties. In this work, we present the effect of amorphous polymeric substrate mechanical properties on seeding and growth of ultra-thin metallic film deposited using magnetron sputtering, (DC) technique. When same material is deposited under similar conditions on different compliant polymeric substrates we observed different coating growth morphology.
Acknowledgments
The research is supported by “Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship”.
This work was performed in part at the South Australian node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility under the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy.
References
[1]. J. Hora, C. Hall, D. Evans, and E. Charrault, (2017), Inorganic Thin Film Deposition and Application on Organic Polymer Substrates. Advanced Engineering Materials, 2017.1700868.
[2]. N. Bradley, J. Hora, C. Hall, D. Evans, P. Murphy, and E. Charrault, Influence of post-deposition moisture uptake in polycarbonate on thin film's residual stress short-term evolution. Surface and Coatings Technology, 2016. 294: p. 210-214.