MOLECULAR RESOLUTION OF THIN, HIGHLY ORIENTED POLY(TETRAFLUOROETHYLENE) FILMS WITH THE ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE

Thin, highly oriented layers of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE, Teflon(R)) were produced with a simple mechanical deposition technique. Previously, it was shown that these films are exceptionally efficient substrates for oriented growth of a variety of materials. In this communication we report on the structure of the PTFE layers, as revealed with the atomic force microscope (AFM), at a resolution sufficient to distinguish the individual macromolecules. AFM images showed the surface roughness from scan sizes of a few nanometres up to 40-mu-m. Analysis of damaged films allowed an estimation of the film thickness, which ranges from approximately 15 to 40 nm thick.