Silver, interaction with polyamic acid

Tsai then applied thick films of the polyamic acid of PMDA and 4-BDAF to polished silver substrates and thermally imidized the films. The substrates were immersed into liquid nitrogen, causing the films to delaminate and XPS was used to examine the polyimide and silver fracture surfaces (see Fig. 33). The C(ls) spectra of the silver fracture surface were very similar to those of neat polyamic acid, indicating that imidization was inhibited by interaction of the polyamic acid with the silver substrate. This was evident from the observation of two peaks near... 

The experimental procedures and x-ray photoemission results for the preparation of ultrathin (d = 1.1 nm) polyimide films on polycrystalline silver by co-condensation of PMDA and ODA are described elsewhere [5]. In that work our XPS results suggested that the polyimide chains bond to the silver surface via a carboxylate type bonding. This conclusion was derived from an analysis of the results obtained for the interaction of the monomers (PMDA and ODA) and of the resulting ultra-thin polyimide film. Due to the relatively larger thickness of the polyamic acid films as compared to the monomer adsorbate phases and the polyimide film, no conclusions were possible about the reaction of the polyamic acid with the silver substrate. 

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