SCANNING FORCE MICROSCOPY OF MELT-CRYSTALLIZED, METAL-EVAPORATED POLY(BUTENE-1) ULTRATHIN FILMS

Ultrathin poly(butene-1) (PB-1) films drawn from the melt have been investigated using the scanning force microscope (SFM) to study the surface topography of both bare and tin-evaporated PB-1 films. Two different operating modes of the SFM were used, the repulsive mode and the tapping mode. The results obtained from SFM measurements show structures similar to the PB-1 needle crystalline morphology which agree excellently with recent TEM investigations. On a molecular scale structures similar to PB-1 macromolecules can be resolved with a repeat of 0.7 +/- 0.1 nm (the value obtained from X-ray diffraction is 0.65 nm). Attempts to image the tin deposition on the PB-1 film surface using the repulsive mode were hampered as the scanning motion of the probe swept away most of the metal particles. Operation of the SFM in the tapping mode prevented this and allowed the overgrowth of tin on PB-1 films to be observed.