Polymer surface modification by plasma source ion implantation

The plasma source ion implantation technique has been used to improve the wetting property of polymer surfaces. The modified polymer surfaces were evaluated with a contact angle meter to note the change of water contact angles and their variations with time. The oxygen-implanted samples showed extremely low water contact angles of 3 degrees compared with 79 degrees of unimplanted ones. Furthermore, the modified surfaces were relatively stable with respect to aging under ambient conditions. Time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) and scanning auger electron spectroscopy were used to analyze the implanted surfaces. From TOF-SIMS analysis it was found that oxygen-containing functional groups had been formed on the implanted surfaces. On the other hand, the CF4-implanted samples turned out to be more hydrophobic than unimplanted ones, giving water contact angles exceeding 100 degrees. The experiments showed that plasma source ion implantation is a very promising technique for polymer surface modification, especially for large area treatment. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.