Uniaxially oriented polyamide films in-plane prepared by vacuum depositionpolymerization methods assisted by oblique ion irradiation

Substrates were subjected to oblique ion irradiation while polyamide films were deposited by a vacuum deposition polymerization method from terephthal oyl chloride and p-phenylenediamine. Uniaxial orientation in the plane of t he films was determined by IR measurements with polarized light parallel an d perpendicular to the direction of ion irradiation. Evident dichroism of C =O bands was observed in the spectra of the firm deposited with oblique ion irradiation. The dichroism indicates that the polyamide film has orientati on in the plane; polymer chains are aligned parallel to the substrate and t o the incident plane of ion irradiation. Orientation depends on the irradia tion angle of ions to the substrate, and this dependence changes according to whether acceleration voltage is applied to the substrate or not. When ac celeration voltage is applied, the orientation shows maximum value at the g lancing angle of the ions. In the case of floating substrates, the orientat ion becomes maximal at the angle of 40 degrees. Angle dependence of the ori entation indicates that oblique ion irradiation gives in-plane anisotropy t o the polyamide. Orientation of the films was also affected by both the val ue of the acceleration voltage and me ion current. (C) 1998 Elsevier Scienc e S.A. All rights reserved.