Understanding properties of polymer thin films. (News Briefs).Polymer thin films have important applications in many industries. They are found, for example, in semiconductor devices, automobile coatings, and construction materials. The molecular structure at both the free and buried interfaces of thin films are critical to their performance, as they can determine characteristics such as adhesion adhesion /ad·he·sion/ (ad-he´zhun) 1. the property of remaining in close proximity. 2. the stable joining of parts to one another, which may occur abnormally. 3. and wear resistance. However, very few analytical techniques An analytical technique is a method that is used to determine the concentration of a chemical compound or chemical element. There are a wide variety of techniques used for analysis, from simple weighing (gravimetric) to titrations (titrimetric)to very advanced techniques using have both the sensitivity and selectivity selectivity /se·lec·tiv·i·ty/ (se-lek-tiv´i-te) in pharmacology, the degree to which a dose of a drug produces the desired effect in relation to adverse effects. selectivity 1. to adequately study polymer interfaces. NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. has developed procedures to study the interfaces of thin polymer films using vibrationally-resolved sum-frequency generation (VR-SFG). Recently, NIST has been developing a novel broadband approach to VR-SFG based on state-of-the-art femtosecond lasers. This technique has been shown to be a probe of molecular structure at polymer surfaces. Most recently, by employing the optical interferences in thin films and by systematically varying film thicknesses, NIST has acquired spectra that selectively probe the buried interfaces between polymer and glass films. VR-SFG is now being applied to determine the relationship between interfacial molecular structure and adhesion. Results of this work may be found in the following reference: Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 (17), 3084-3086 (2002). CONTACT: Kimberly Briggman, (301) 975-2358; kimberly.briggman@nist.gov or John Stephenson There are several people called John Stephenson:
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion