Low energy ion beam interactions with electronic polymer surfaces

The surfaces of polyimide films have been treated by exposure to low energy ion beam and electron cyclotron resonance plasma prior to metallization in order to understand the effects of ion treatment on adhesion of metallized plastics. Thin metallized structures were tested by the blister test for adhesion measurement. A nonlinear analysis for the test was developed based on local energy balance. Our data show the processed polymer surfaces exhibit one order of magnitude stronger adhesion to metal overlayers than the untreated surfaces, indicating that controlled interphase engineering is important between the two dissimilar materials.