AVS 59th Annual International Symposium and Exhibition
    Thin Film Tuesday Sessions
       Session TF2-TuA

Paper TF2-TuA10
Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Structure Formation via Sequential Vapor Infiltration

Tuesday, October 30, 2012, 5:00 pm, Room 11

Session: ALD for Hybrid Films and Bioapplications
Presenter: H. Akyildiz, North Carolina State University
Authors: H. Akyildiz, North Carolina State University
M. Yokus, North Carolina State University
R.P. Padbury, North Carolina State University
J.S. Jur, North Carolina State University
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Hybrid film formation onto polymer surfaces during atomic layer deposition (ALD) has inspired a number of processing schemes that promote precursor infiltration to increase the extent of hybrid reaction. These hybrid materials have shown opportunity in mechanical, electronic, biomedical and catalytic applications. In this work we utilize a sequential vapor infiltration (SVI) process, defined by subsets of consecutive precursor exposures, to understand the minimum precursor exposure required to saturate the formation of the hybrid material. As a test system, we examine consecutive exposures of trimethylaluminum followed by a H2O exposure onto polyamide 6 (PA6). We investigate the effect of temperature, pressure, and exposure time on the mass change of high surface area PA6 fabrics (3 m2/g). A saturation in the mass increases is reached after ~10 TMA (0.2 sec dose, 30 sec hold) exposure cycles, resulting in a ~14 wt% increase at 30 °C and 1.5 wt% increase at 150 °C. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows a conformal surface modification of ~75 nm at 60 °C. The influence of water resident in the PA6 is examined by conducting a 120 °C in situ anneal prior to SVI processing, which results in a decreased of ~4 wt % at lower exposure temperatures. Still, the total mass increase is inversely proportional to temperature. A reaction-diffusion mechanism for the precursor penetration is proposed that considers a decrease in diffusion with an increased extent of reaction near the outer surface of the fiber. Application of these hybrid modifications to the mechanical and dielectric properties of the fabric is explored.