Effect of ion bombardment in polymer surface modification: Comparison of pulsed high frequency plasma and ion beam

The energy and the flux of impinging ions are important factors which determine the properties of deposited films and of exposed surfaces (microstructure, density, hardness, roughness, stress, chemical structure, adhesion etc.). In the present work, we use a multigrid retarding field analyzer to study ion bombardment characteristics in two different systems: a pulsed microwave plasma reactor, and a cold cathode ion source. We have found that the ion energy distribution functions (IEDF) possess specific features for each mode of operation: we evaluate the shape and the maximum and the mean ion energies of the IEDF for different gases such as Ar and N(2). These ion characteristics are correlated with surface restructuring of differently treated polymers (polycarbonate and polyethylene terephthalate), analyzed by XPS.