AVS 60th International Symposium and Exhibition
    Applied Surface Science Tuesday Sessions
       Session AS+BI-TuA

Paper AS+BI-TuA3
Characterization of Foreign Material from Buried Interfaces in the Medical Device Industry

Tuesday, October 29, 2013, 2:40 pm, Room 204

Session: Forensic Science, Art and Archaeology (2:00-3:20 pm)/Quasicrystals and Complex Metal Alloys (4:00-6:00 pm)
Presenter: W. Theilacker, Medtronic, Inc.
Authors: W. Theilacker, Medtronic, Inc.
A. Belu, Medtronic, Inc.
A. Burand, Medtronic, Inc.
Correspondent: Click to Email
This presentation will highlight the use of surface analysis methods for the characterization of buried interfaces on medical devices. Manufacturing of medical devices requires the highest level of quality to ensure optimal device performance and patient safety. Pacemakers, leads, and cardiovascular products often contain components and sub-systems that are potted in an overlayer of semi-transparent material including silicones, urethanes, cyanoacrylates, and epoxies. This process serves to isolate electrical feedthroughs and contacts, fill gaps and voids, and to create water tight seals. Occasionally surface residues from raw materials, manufacturing processes, cleaning, and handling become trapped at this interface and are often not detected until later in the build process. Their presence could degrade performance, prevent adhesion, generate corrosion, or simply result in a cosmetic blemish. Identifying the elemental and chemical composition of foreign material from buried interfaces is a very difficult task and often requires a multi-technique approach. In this study, titanium, polycarbonate, and silicon-based substrates were coated with a thin layer of commonly observed inorganic and organic manufacturing residues and buried under overlayers (<100 nm) of various organic materials. Both non-destructive (e.g., confocal Raman spectroscopy) and destructive analysis (e.g., ion beam sputtering along with XPS and TOF-SIMS) were applied to gain insight into the chemical composition of the interfacial regions.