Abstract
Low energy non-reactive ions (5 keV Ar +) are shown to induce a remarkable enhancement of fibroblast cell adhesion and proliferation on the surfaces of a silicon-based polymer. The beam-induced cytocompatibility shows a relatively well defined fluence dependence, with an onset of massive cell adhesion around 5 × 10 14 ions/cm 2. Such dependence has been correlated with the chemical modifications of the polymer surface, studied by using XPS and contact angle measurements. In particular, XPS data showed that the irradiation induces a progressive compositional modification of the unirradiated polymer towards a SiO x C y phase, while the contact angle measurements showed that the initially hydrophobic surfaces are made more hydrophilic, due to the strong raising of the polar component. It is to stress that the strong decrease in contact angle is observed around the fluence threshold for cell adhesion.
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