Polymer behavior under plasma etching: Influence of physical properties on kinetics and durability

Abstract
The influence of the physical properties of polymers on their plasma behavior has been investigated under O2 and Ar plasma treatments. The glass transition temperature (Tg) has been found to be an important parameter. A steplike increase in the etch kinetics in O2 plasmas has been correlated to the change in the heat capacity of the polymer occurring above Tg whatever the molecular weight of the polymer. Furthermore, above Tg, changes in the viscoelastic properties induce bulk polymer degradation if chain crosslinking cannot be achieved before or during plasma etching.

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