AVS 63rd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Applied Surface Science Thursday Sessions
       Session AS+SS-ThM

Paper AS+SS-ThM10
Electronic and Physical Changes to Soft Materials Caused by Gas Cluster Sputtering

Thursday, November 10, 2016, 11:00 am, Room 101B

Session: Depth Profiling, Buried Interfaces, and 3D Analyses
Presenter: Christopher Goodwin, University of Delaware
Authors: C.M. Goodwin, University of Delaware
Z.E. Voras, University of Delaware
T.P. Beebe, Jr., University of Delaware
Correspondent: Click to Email
The development and application of gas cluster ion sputtering (GCIS) of soft materials opens the ability to perform 3D analysis without removing the sample from a vacuum environment. GCIS has been used to remove material from the surface of some samples without leaving behind a significant amount of damaged material. This allows for depth profiling and sample cleaning in vacuum, without loss of chemical information. The soft sputtering standard Irganox 1010 has been used to study topological effects of GCIS with atomic force microscopy (AFM) while chemical changes were monitored with X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS). In addition to Irganox 1010, polyaniline has been studied due to its importance as an organic conductive material, allowing for many applications such as a solar cells, antistatic and corrosion-resistant coatings, and superconductors. GCIS was used to depth profile into thin films of polyaniline, resulting in some topological (AFM) and chemical changes (XPS). Our interest is in exploring how these changes caused by GCIS sputtering affect the electronic band structure of conductive polymers.