title: Significant Enhancement of the Adhesion between Metal Films and Polymer Substrates by UV-Ozone Surface Modification in Nanoscale.
abstract: Polymer metallization is extensively used in a variety of micro- and nanosystem technologies. However, the deposited metal film exhibits poor adhesion to polymer substrates, which may cause difficulties in many applications. In this work, ultraviolet (UV)-ozone surface modification is for the first time put forward to enhance the adhesion between metal films and polymer substrates. The adhesion of sputtered Cu films on UV-ozone modified poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) substrates is enhanced by a factor of 6, and that of Au films is improved by a factor of 10. Moreover, metal films on the modified PMMA substrates can withstand a long-time liquid immersion. To understand the mechanism for the adhesion enhancement, the surface modification is studied with contact angle measurements, attenuated total reflection Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (ATR-FTIR) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Detailed characterization results indicate that the significant adhesion enhancement is attributed to the increases of both the surface wettability by generating some polar functional groups and the roughness of the surface in nanoscale. To demonstrate this novel polymer metallization method, a 6-in. PMMA chip with arrays of three-electrode electrochemical microsensors is designed and fabricated, and the microsensor exhibits excellent reproducibility, uniformity, and long-term stability.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.|Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of the Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Junshan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Licheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Yuncheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Man
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Luyi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Zheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Jingmin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.|Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of the Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.|Key Laboratory for Precision and Non-Traditional Machining Technology of the Ministry of Education, Dalian University of Technology , Dalian, Liaoning 116024, China.
authors.forename: Liding
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: electrochemical sensor; poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA); polymer metallization; surface modification; ultraviolet (UV)−ozone