AVS 53rd International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS2+TF-WeM

Paper PS2+TF-WeM6
XPS Study of Plasma Pretreatment of PEN and Related Polymer Substrates to Enhance Atomic Layer Deposition of Aluminum Oxide

Wednesday, November 15, 2006, 9:40 am, Room 2011

Session: Plasma Deposition
Presenter: E.S. Brandt, Eastman Kodak Company
Authors: E.S. Brandt, Eastman Kodak Company
J.M. Grace, Eastman Kodak Company
Correspondent: Click to Email
The role of water plasma pretreatment of polymer substrates to promote atomic layer deposition (ALD) of aluminum oxide from dimethylaluminum isopropoxide (DMAI) is investigated using an in situ ALD deposition chamber that is interfaced directly to the UHV system of an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer.  Using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), it is shown that treatment by water plasma incorporates surface hydroxyl functional groups, which enhance the deposition of aluminum oxide by approximately an order of magnitude on poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN), and activates an otherwise inert polystyrene (PS) surface to alumina deposition when DMAI and water are used as ALD reactants.  By contrast, under our reaction conditions, the intrinsic reactivity of the highly hydroxylated surface of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) toward repeated DMAI/water ALD cycles is not significantly enhanced by water plasma pretreatment.  The data suggest that in the absence of inherently reactive surface functional groups (e.g., hydroxyl groups) to promote chemisorption of the metal-bearing precursor, some polymers, including PS and PEN, require surface functionalization (e.g., water plasma treatment) to initiate ALD growth of metal oxides.