Analysis of surface and bulk polymerization of a thin film using a chemical derivatization technique and TOF-SIMS

A chemical derivatization technique in TOF-SIMS along with ultra-low angle sample cutting technique were used to perform a quantitative study of the surface and in-depth double bond profile of the photo-initiated polymerized thin film. We found out that the characteristic peaks at m/z 185 and 199 were obtained from the thin film composed of acrylate monomer and methacrylate monomer, respectively, after reaction with bromine gas. The detection sensitivity of certain chemical indicators is affected by changing the primary ion species. The Bi₃⁺ primary ion results in the best chemical sensitivity. The surface double-bond density obtained by TOF-SIMS and the Br 3d signal intensity of XPS showed a good linear relationship in the limited region due to the effect of matrix hardness.The thin film was cut with microtome about 1° angle and was left to react with bromine and was measured using TOF-SIMS. It was clearly observed from this technique that double bond of acrylate and methacrylate monomer remained much more at the surface of the photo-initiated polymerized thin film, due to the inhibition of polymerization by oxygen. From the surface to 1 μm depth, both monomers show the same behavior, but the rate of polymerization of methacrylate monomer was lower than that of acrylate in deeper layers.