AVS 46th International Symposium
    Applied Surface Science Division Tuesday Sessions
       Session AS-TuP

Paper AS-TuP5
Photodegradation and Direct Patterning of PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE) using Sychrotron-based X-rays

Tuesday, October 26, 1999, 5:30 pm, Room 4C

Session: Poster Session
Presenter: P.T. Sprunger, Louisiana State University
Authors: P.T. Sprunger, Louisiana State University
J. Choi, Louisiana State University
E. Morikawa, Louisiana State University
H. Manohara, Louisiana State University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Upon hard and soft X-ray exposure from a synchrotron storage ring, the photodegradation and direct patterning of PVDF and copolymer P(VDF-TrFE) thick and thin films have been studied with ultraviolet photoemission and mass spectroscopy. After exposure of soft white light X-rays (<1 keV) on crystalline, 5 ML P(VDF-TrFE) films, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy reveals that the photodegradation mechanism involves both an increase in the carbon conjugation (single to double bond formation). With increasing illumination amount of white light, new valence band features emerge near and cross the Fermi level. Furthermore, there is an attenuation of the fluorine 2s core-level intensity due to photodetachment. The photodetached components of the copolymer, as detected with mass spectroscopy, are hydrogen, fluorine, and HF. This photodegradation mechanism affords the ability to direct patterning of PVDF and P(VDF-TrFE) using X-rays. Without the use of any reactive chemical gas, a maximum etched depth in excess of 9 mm is achieved using hard X-rays (2 keV to 16 keV) in thick, amorphous films of PVDF. The ability to pattern PVDF, a piezoelectric, pyroelectric and ferroelectric polymer, has potential applications in the areas of micro-sensors, actuators and non-volatile ferroelectric random access memory (NVFRAMS) technology.