Adhesion of metals to spin-coated fluorocarbon polymer films

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Abstract
Adhesion between metals and fluorocarbon polymer films has been studied for Cu, Cr, Ti, Al, and Au on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and tetrafluoroethylene-hexafluoropropylene copolymer (FEP) films. Polymer films were applied on the Cr/SiO2 /Si substrate by spinning the aqueous dispersions of the polymer resin particles, followed by thermal curing. Strips of different metals were deposited on the polymers, and adhesion was measured at 90° peel test. The peel strengths were invariably higher for the metals on FEP than those of the corresponding metals on PTFE. Among the metals, Ti showed the highest peel strength for both polymers, followed by Cr and Al, with Cu and Au being the lowest. The peel strengths of Ti, Cr, and Cu on FEP are 85, 45, and 12 g/mm, respectively, and the corresponding ones on PTFE are 23, 5, and 2 g/mm, respectively. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis shows that the metal-polymer bonding involves the metal-carbon interactions. The strongest interaction is observed for Ti with the polymers, forming Ti carbidelike bonds. Cr also shows strong interaction with the two polymers, but to a lesser degree compared with Ti. Only a weak bonding is shown for Cu. The difference in peel strengths among the metals shows a correlation with the difference in electronegativities between the metals and carbon. Little contribution to the observed peel strengths is seen from the surface morphological analysis of the untreated polymers.