IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Thin Films Thursday Sessions
       Session TF+BI-ThM

Paper TF+BI-ThM9
Plasma Sputtering Deposition of Metals on PAMAM Dendrimer Monolayer

Thursday, November 1, 2001, 11:00 am, Room 123

Session: Bioactive and Organic/Inorganic Thin Films
Presenter: S.C. Street, University of Alabama
Authors: A. Rar, University of Alabama
M. Curry, University of Alabama
F. Xu, University of Alabama
J.A. Barnard, University of Alabama
S.C. Street, University of Alabama
Correspondent: email address not available
A number of nanotechnology applications require development of thin, flat surface films with well-regulated mechanical and tribological properties. A promising approach for this is metal layer deposition on PAMAM dendrimer underlayers. Previously, we demonstrated improvement in mechanical and morphological properties for Au, Co, and Cr films deposited by evaporation onto dendrimer self-assembled monolayers. In this paper we will discuss formation of metallic layers on dendrimer by plasma sputtering deposition. We will show the influence of higher incoming kinetic energy of the metal atoms on dendrimer structure and chemical changes at the interface. The evolution of the dendrimer interlayer during metal deposition was analyzed with XRR, the surface morphology of deposited films with AFM, the chemical interaction between deposited metal and dendrimers with XPS and RAIRS. Thin Cr layers obtained by plasma sputtering interact with the dendrimer interlayer in essentially the same way as films deposited by evaporation. Significant differences were found for Cu/dendrimer layers prepared by plasma sputtering deposition compared to less energetic thermal evaporation. In the first case more than 1/3 of the nitrogen atoms in the dendrimer adlayer form nitride-like chemical states. Thermal evaporation shows less pronounced influence on the N1s XPS peak.