| AVS 58th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition | |
| Plasma Science and Technology Division | Thursday Sessions |
| Session PS+SS-ThA |
| Session: | Plasma Surface Interactions (Fundamentals & Applications) II |
| Presenter: | Tsung-Cheng Lin, University of Maryland, College Park |
| Authors: | T. Lin, University of Maryland, College Park H.C. Kan, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan, Republic of China R.L. Bruce, University of Maryland, College Park G.S. Oehrlein, University of Maryland, College Park R.J. Phaneuf, University of Maryland, College Park |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
We report on a determination of the elastic modulus for ultrathin (< 2nm) stiff damaged layers produced by argon plasma etching of the model photoresist polymer, polystyrene (PS). Measured force curves allow a direct determination of the effective modulus of the damaged layer plus polystyrene underlayer within a model which accounts for adhesive forces. The modulus of the modified layer is then extracted via comparison with numerical simulations for contact between a spherical AFM probe and a bilayer-structured film system in a Hertzian mechanics model. Our results show directly that an extremely stiff modified layer is formed, with the modulus increasing with Ar-ion energy during etching, in good quantitative agreement with estimations based upon measurement of the dominant corrugation wavelength and buckling theory.