• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2013.02a
• /
• pp.650-650
• /
• 2013

Although imprinted nanopatterns of organic polymer can be modified by the heat treatment [1], it generally requires high process temperatures and is material-dependent since the heat-induced mass loss of the organic polymer is greatly affected by its chemical characteristics. When oxygen is added during the annealing process, one can reduce the process temperature as well as the dependence of the materials. With the oxygen, line width reduction of a polymer (SU-8) patterns could be accomplished at temperature of as low as $250^{\circ}C$ which was not possible in the heat only process. This oxidative line width reduction can be dramatically promoted with the introduction of oxygen plasma. The oxygen plasma, with its highly-reactive oxygen species, vigorously etches away the organic materials, proven to be extremely effective line with reduction method. It is, however, very hard to control the extent and homogeneity of the etching, particularly of very fine patterns. Here, we report an effective and reliable line width reduction method of imprinted nanopatterns by combined plasma and heat treatment. The merits of this process include the reduction of process temperature, time and material-dependence.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.303.1-303.1
• /
• 2016

Polymer-like amorphous carbon films were deposited on polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) substrate by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) and their water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) were tested. propane was used as precursors. To make a polymer-like amorphous carbon film the deposition rate, surface roughness, light transmittance, and WVTR of the films were characterized as a function of the precursor feed ratio and plasma power. The water vapor transmission rates of bare PEN film and single layer PAC on PEN substrate were 6.95 g/m2/day and 0.3 g/m2/day, respectively. The superior property the water vapor permeability of thin layers of PAC was attributed to uniform coverage and good adhesion between PAC film and PEN substrate.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.11 no.6
• /
• pp.511-513
• /
• 2003

Hydroxyl groups were introduced onto the surface of a silicon wafer by O$_2$ plasma treatment. Poly(l-lactide) (1-PLA) was attached onto the surface-modified silicon wafer by the ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide using the hydroxyl group as an initiator. Lamellar single crystals of 1-PLA were grown directly on the 1-PLA-attached silicon wafer from a 0.025% solution in acetonitrile at 5$^{\circ}C$. A well-separated, lozenge-shaped, monolayered lamellar single crystal was prepared because the 1-PLA-attached silicon wafer acts as an initial nucleus.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.50-54
• /
• 2014

In this paper we studied the laser-induced crater depth, mass, and emission spectra of laser-ablated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer using the laser-induced plasma spectroscopy (LIPS) technique. This study was performed using a Nd:YAG laser with 100 mJ energy and 7 ns pulse width, focused normal to the surface of the sample. The nanoscale change in ablated depth versus number of laser pulses was studied. By using scanning electron microscope (SEM) images, the crater depth and ablated mass were estimated. The LIPS spectral intensities were observed for major and minor elements with depth. The comparison between the LIPS results and SEM images showed that LIPS could be used to estimate the crater depth, which is of interest for some applications such as thin-film lithography measurements and online measurements of thickness in film deposition techniques.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.29 no.6
• /
• pp.678-682
• /
• 1996

The plasma-deposited polymer thin films at platinum surface were investigated as materials blocking access of chloride ions to the platinum surface and preventing their interference with the Nernstian responce of platinum. In the presence of chloride ions, the pH response of a naked platinum was remarkably affected. By comparison of pH responses of coated and uncoated platinum-wire electrodes immersed in solutions with chloride ions, it was found that toluene and ethylbenzene plasma films could improve the pH response of platinum. The pH response of coated platinum electrodes may be explained by the ability of protons, by virtue of their small size, to move through the polymer matrix to the platinum surface.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
• /
• 2002.06a
• /
• pp.75-78
• /
• 2002

In this paper, we investigated the change of wettability, surface potential decay and surface resistivity caused by thermal-treated and plasma-treated FRP respectively for finding out the influence of electrical characteristics on the surface of polymer composites. For the change of wettability, the contact angle of thermal-treated specimen with the high temperature of 200$^{\circ}C$ increased. But that of plasma-treated specimen decreased. The characteristic of surface potential decay shows the tendency of the remarkable decrease on plasma-treated specimens, but no difference on thermal-treated specimen compared with untreated one. Also, for the surface resistivity, it shows the same trend compared with the change of contact angle. We can conclude that the degradation phenomena of epoxy surface are dominated by the induction of hydrophilicity and hydrophobicity.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.63-70
• /
• 2000

Zinc plated steel tire cords were subjected to RF plasma etching of argon, followed by plasma polymerization coating of acetylene or butadiene in order to enhance adhesion to rubber compounds. Plasma polymerization was carried out under optimized conditions of 10 W, 30 sec, 30 mTorr for acetylene and butadiene gas, while plasma etching was performed at 90W, 10min and 30mTorr. The adhesion of tire cords was evaluated via Tire Cords Adhesion Test (TCAT) and the failure surfaces of the tested samples were analyzed by SEM. Polymer coating by plasma polymerization was also characterized by FT-IR, Alpha-Step and dynamic contact angle analyzer in order to elucidate the adhesion mechanism.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2000

Zinc plated steel tire cords were treated with RF plasma polymerization coating of acetylene or butadiene in order to enhance adhesion to rubber compounds. Plasma polymerization was carried out as a function of plasma power, treatment tune and gas pressure. In order to maximize adhesion, argon plasma etching was performed, with carrier gas such as argon, nitrogen and oxygen, while the adhesion of tire cords was evaluated via TCAT. Best results were obtained from a combination treatment of argon etching (90 W. 10 min, 30 mTorr) and acetylene plasma polymerization coating (10 W, 30 sec, 30 mTorr) with argon carrier gas (25/5:acetylene/argon). These samples exhibited a pull out force of 285N which is comparable to that obtained from the brass plated tire cords (290N).

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.206-209
• /
• 2006

Indium tin oxide (ITO) films were synthesized on polymer (PES, polyethersulfone) at room temperature by pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. By the control of introducing hydrogen to argon atmosphere, the resistivity of ITO films was obtained at $5.27\;{\times}\;10^{-4}\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ without substrate heating in comparison with $2.65\;{\times}\;10{-3}\;{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$ under hydrogen free condition. ITO film synthesized at Ar condition was changed from amorphous to crystalline. These result from the enhancement of electron temperature in $Ar\;+\;H_2$ plasma, which induces the increase of ionization of target materials and argon. The dominant increase of ions such as In II and O II and neutral Sn I was monitored by optical emission spectroscopy (OES). Thermal energy required for the crystalline film formation is compensated by kinetic energy transfer through ion bombardments to substrate.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.11 no.5
• /
• pp.387-392
• /
• 2003

The ablation effects of Ar-plasma treatment and alkali-decomposition behavior in NaOH solution of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film were investigated. The modifications were evaluated by analysis of atomic force microscopy topographical changes, and by the measurement of decomposition yield in conjunction with heats of formation and electron densities of acyl carbon calculated by Parameterization Method 3 method. It has shown that the alkali-decomposition is hampered by plasma treatment and its decomposition yield is closely related with plasma treatment conditions such as exposure time to plasma. Plasma-treated PET films exhibited lower decomposition yield, compared to that of virgin PET. Increasing plasma exposure time contributes positively to decrease the decomposition yield. It has also shown that the topography of PET surface was affected by the base-promoted hydrolysis as well as Ar-plasma treatments. These behaviors are attributed to the decreased nucleophilicity of acyl carbon damaged by the ablation of Ar-plasma.