Thin-film conformability

Impreg na.tion Coa.ting. Impregnation coating is performed by saturation of the component with a low viscosity resia a thin film is coated on the component surface. This process is usually used with a cavity-filling or conformal coating process. 

Figure 16-36 shows the absorption spectra of thin films of four differently substituted five-ring OPVs. in contrast to the solution spectra, which show structureless low-energy absorption bands, the absorption bands of the films are structured. In the solid slate, the molecules are spatially constrained, whereas in solution different conformers exist, resulting in a distribution of accessible levels. As a consequence, some details appear in the absorption spectrum of the films which can be attributed to vibronic coupling, while, in dilute solution, the spectrum is a broad featureless band. For oct-OPV5 and Ooci-OPV5 films, the absorption maxima are red-shifted over approximately 0.1 eV relative to the solution (see Fig. 16-12). The low-energy absorption band of a thin film of Ooct-OPV5-CN" displays an appreciably larger...

Another largely unexplored area is the change of dynamics due to the influence of the surface. The dynamic behavior of a latex suspension as a model system for Brownian particles is determined by photon correlation spectroscopy in evanescent wave geometry [130] and reported to differ strongly from the bulk. Little information is available on surface motion and relaxation phenomena of polymers [10, 131]. The softening at the surface of polymer thin films is measured by a mechanical nano-indentation technique [132], where the applied force and the path during the penetration of a thin needle into the surface is carefully determined. Thus the structure, conformation and dynamics of polymer molecules at the free surface is still very much unexplored and only few specific examples have been reported in the literature. 

Several aspects of polymer thin films have thus been investigated while many others are still unexplored. These include structural and conformational aspects where polymer thin film properties are theoretically well-treated but experimental data are generally missing. However, with further development of experimental techniques this area might become accessible in the near future. 

The most interesting properties are exhibited by thin films, where rapid changes in doping level, conductivity, and optical transmission can be obtained. Thicker films exhibit vastly slower kinetics, which is due to slow counterion transport and, to some extent, to slow conformation changes. 

For the investigation of polymer systems under spatial confinement, fluorescence microscopy is a powerful method providing valuable information with high sensitivity. A fluorescence microscopy technique with nanometric spatial resolution and nanosecond temporal resolution has been developed, and was used to study the structure and dynamics of polymer chains under spatial confinement a polymer chain in an ultra-thin film and a chain grafted on a solid substrate. Studies on the conformation of the single polymer chain in a thin film and the local segmental motion of the graft polymer chain are described herein. 

The conformation of polymer chains in an ultra-thin film has been an attractive subject in the field of polymer physics. The chain conformation has been extensively discussed theoretically and experimentally [6-11] however, the experimental technique to study an ultra-thin film is limited because it is difficult to obtain a signal from a specimen due to the low sample volume. The conformation of polymer chains in an ultra-thin film has been examined by small angle neutron scattering (SANS), and contradictory results have been reported. With decreasing film thickness, the radius of gyration, Rg, parallel to the film plane increases when the thickness is less than the unperturbed chain dimension in the bulk state [12-14]. On the other hand, Jones et al. reported that a polystyrene chain in an ultra-thin film takes a Gaussian conformation with a similar in-plane Rg to that in the bulk state [15, 16]. 

Aoki, H., Morita, S., Sekine, R. and Ito, S. (2008) Conformation of single poly(methyl methacrylate) chains in ultra-thin film studied by scanning near-field optical microscopy. Polym. J 40, 274-280. 

Cling occurs when the surface of a polymer film conforms intimately to another surface or itself. We see cling most often when films are extremely thin, smooth, or soft, all of which... 

Finally, as in macro-Raman experiments, orientation-insensitive spectra can also be calculated for spectromicroscopy. A method has been developed recently for uniaxially oriented systems and successfully tested on high-density PE rods stretched to a draw ratio of 13 and on Bombyx mori cocoon silk fibers [65]. This method has been theoretically expanded to biaxial samples using the K2 Raman invariant and has proved to be useful to determine the molecular conformation in various polymer thin films [58]. 

The case of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) presents some differences with respect to those just discussed. While both sPP and PET adopt in their mesophases disordered, extended, essentially non-helical conformations, iPP is characterized by a unique, relatively well ordered, stable chain structure with three-fold helical symmetry [18,19,36]. More accurately we can state that an iPP chain segment can exist in the mesophase either as a left handed or as the enantiomeric right-handed three-fold helix. The two are isoener-getic and will be able to interconvert only through a rather complex, cooperative process. From a morphological point of view Geil has reported that thin films of mesomorphic iPP quenched from the melt to 0 °C consist of... 

For many applications, it is desirable that the adhesive layer accept printable elements readily in its fully cured state. This characteristic usually requires the layer to be soft in its cured form. Adhesive thin films composed of low-modulus PDMS elastomer meet this requirement well18 and can guide transfer of elements to a target quickly (without exposure to heat or light). Surprisingly, the direction of transfer can be well defined even when the composition of the adhesive is identical to that of the stamp. Successful transfer is thus determined by several factors surface chemistry, conformability (modulus), geometrical/mechanical factors (e.g., adhesive film thickness), and others. 

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