Ion assisted reaction in polymer and ceramics

Abstract

Ion assisted reaction (IAR), which was firstly presented in 1995 MRS Fall meeting, has been reviewed for the surface modifications of polymer and ceramics. The reaction is assisted by energetic ions from 0.5 to 1.5 keV, doses 10(14) to 10(17) ions/cm(2), and blowing rate of oxygen 0 similar to 8 ml/min. Hydrophilic surfaces of polymers (wetting angle < 20 degrees and surface energy 60 similar to 70 erg/cm(2)) have been accomplished by the reaction, and an improvement of wettability and an increment of the surface energy are mainly due to the polar force and hydrophilic functional groups such as C=O, (C=O)-O, C-O, etc., without surface damage. The IAR was also applied on aluminum nitride in an O-2 environment and AlON on AlN is formed by the Ar+ irradiation. The improvement of bond strength of Cu films on the AlN surface resulted from the interface bonds between Cu and the surface layers. Comparisons between the conventional surface treatments and the IAR are described in terms of physical bombardment, surface damage, functional group, and chain mobility in polymer.