Study of ion and vacuum ultraviolet-induced effects on styrene- and ester-based polymers exposed to argon plasma

Plasma-polymer interactions are important for the purpose of etching, deposition, and surface modification in a wide range of different fields. An Ar discharge from an inductively coupled plasma reactor was used to determine the factors in a simple plasma that control etch and surface roughness behavior for three styrene-based and three ester-based model polymers. The authors compared the etch behavior of polymers in Ar plasma discharges with low and high energy ions by changing the substrate bias, compared cooled and elevated substrate temperature conditions, and compared fully plasma-exposed conditions and vacuum ultraviolet (vuv)-only conditions by employing a magnesium fluoride window to prevent ion bombardment in the vuv-only case. It was found that ions, vuv radiation, and temperature all had significant impact on the etch behavior of polymers. The dependence of polymer structure on etch and surface roughness was also compared. Polymers with styrene and ester side groups were compared and polymers w...