The adhesion of SiN x thin layers on silica–acrylate coated polymer substrates

Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) was used to grow 200, 300 and 400 nm thick silicon nitride layers (SiN x ) on a high temperature aromatic polyester substrate spin coated with a silica–acrylate hybrid coating (hard coat). Layers deposited without oxygen plasma treatment remained att...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSurface & coatings technology Vol. 204; no. 1; pp. 78 - 84
Main Authors Abdallah, A.A., Lu, K., Ovchinnikov, C.D., Bulle-Lieuwma, C.W.T., Bouten, P.C.P., de With, G.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier B.V 2009
Subjects
AFM
Buckle delamination
PECVD
TEM
TOF-SIMS
AFM
Buckle delamination
PECVD
TOF-SIMS
TEM
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Summary:Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD) was used to grow 200, 300 and 400 nm thick silicon nitride layers (SiN x ) on a high temperature aromatic polyester substrate spin coated with a silica–acrylate hybrid coating (hard coat). Layers deposited without oxygen plasma treatment remained attached to the substrate, while spontaneous buckle delamination of the layer deposited with oxygen plasma treatment was observed directly after layer deposition. This effect was investigated using Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). SIMS analyses showed a considerable increase of silicon oxide by exposing the substrate to oxygen plasma treatment, while AFM showed an increased roughness. Bright-field transmission electron micrographs show the presence of a particulate SiO 2 layer. The oxygen plasma treatment thus removes the acrylate from the hard coat layer leaving behind the SiO 2 particles leading to lower adhesion and thus to spontaneous buckle delamination.
ISSN:0257-8972
1879-3347
DOI:10.1016/j.surfcoat.2009.06.038