PLASMA-DEPOSITED POLYMERIC FILMS PREPARED FROM CARBONYL-CONTAINING VOLATILE PRECURSORS - XPS CHEMICAL DERIVATIZATION AND STATIC SIMS SURFACE CHARACTERIZATION

The surface chemistry of plasma-deposited films (PDF) created from carbonyl precursors was investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and vapor-phase derivatization reactions in conjunction with XPS (derivatization XPS). The selectivity of trifluoroacetic anhydride (TFAA) toward hydroxyl groups and hydrazine toward carbonyl groups was ascertained by reacting them with various polymers with oxygen-containing functional groups likely to be present in the carbon-oxygen PDF of interest. Investigation of the surface chemistry of ultrathin PDF from acetaldehyde, acetone, and 2-butanone demonstrated that under the invariant experimental conditions utilized, the effect of varying the C/O ratio of the precursor had little effect on PDF surface chemistry. The low concentration of carbonyl groups detected suggests extensive fragmentation of the precursor during plasma deposition. The creation of a graded series of oxygen-containing PDF was also explored by blending controlled ratios of O2 gas in the acetone feed to the plasma reactor. Derivatization XPS indicated that the distribution of hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl functional groups varied across the range of oxygen incorporation in the acetone-O2 PDF. The surface chemistry of the acetone-O2 PDF series and a commercial tissue culture polystyrene surface (Falcon) was compared by XPS, derivatization XPS, and static secondary ion mass spectrometry.