Plasma CVD/etching of Poly(methyl methacrylate) surface: optical and structural characterizations

Abstract

Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) optical polymer surface has been treated in a RF remote plasma system, in three different plasma environments. Firstly, its surface has been coated with a plasma polymerized organosilicon precursor (Hexamethyldisilazane: HMDSN), secondly, PMMA surface has been exposed to oxygen plasma, and thirdly SF6 plasma has been used to treatment PMMA surface. The impact of plasma treatment on PMMA surface properties has been monitored using different characterizations techniques: optical reflectance, wettability by using water contact angle measurement, surface morphology using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and chemical structure using attenuated total reflectance of Fourier transformer infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). The correlations between the different properties have been discussed. The results revealed the possibility of tuning the optical and wetting PMMA surface properties by plasma surface treatment, according to the induced changes in surface morphology and chemical structure after plasma treatment. Particular interesting results are lowest reflectance after PMMA surface O2 plasma exposure and high hydrophobic surface obtained after SF6 plasma surface treatment.