INVESTIGATIONS ON THE INFLUENCE OF ADHESION, COHESION, AND EXTERNAL FORCES ON THE FORMATION OF ULTRATHIN POLYMERIC FILMS

The birth and growth of ultrathin polymer films out of solution were s tudied by means of atomic force microscopy(AFM). The system investigat ed consisted of a model substance for a curable high-temperature adhes ive (a prepolymer of the dicyanate of bisphenol A) and as received sil icon wafers or aluminum evaporation coatings. The application techniqu es, dip-coating and spin-coating, allow film formation either in nearl y equilibrated conditions or with the influence of centrifugal acceler ation, respectively. AFM reveals significant differences between the f ilms depending on the application technique and the substrate, but in some instances there are surprising similarities. The comparative inte rpretation of the findings results in the proposal of a model for the film formation of the investigated systems.