Examination of ion beam induced damage on polymer surface using Ar clusters

Abstract

The damage of polymer surfaces caused by the high energy primary ion beams of TOF‐SIMS was examined using Ar cluster ions. Polymer damage, the damage of secondary ions detected from the polystyrene surface and the damage layer formed by the Bi3 primary ion beam have previously been studied. In this study, the damage observed in the secondary ions was studied by using Ar cluster primary ions. The secondary ions were mainly classified into two types, ions reflecting the polystyrene structure and cyclized ions, generated by excessive energy, which are not useful for qualitative analysis. The layer damaged by irradiation of the Bi3 primary ion regarding PS samples was confirmed using Ar cluster sputtering beams. The depth of the layer that has chemical damage in the PS main chain caused by 30 kV Bi3++ (ion dose: 5 × 1012 ions/cm2) irradiation was approximately 50–60 nm. The Ar cluster ion sputter rate in PS decreases with the Bi3 ion irradiation. Micro PS particles that are not able to be detected by a conventional TOF‐SIMS measurement can be effectively analyzed by accumulating the secondary ions over the static limit using Ar cluster sputtering. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.