PHOTOELECTRON EMISSION MICROSCOPY AND ITS APPLICATION TO THE STUDY OFPOLYMER SURFACES

The X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy at the Advanced Light Sour ce has a spatial resolution of 0.2 microns at an accelerating voltage of 12 kV. The tunability of the photon energy is used to provide chemi cal state information using near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy on the sub-micrometer scale. The homogeneity of thin film s of polymer blends was studied for various film thicknesses. The poly styrene/polyvinylmethylether film of 194 Angstrom showed protrusions o f 2-3 mu m diameter with an enriched polystyrene content while the pol ystyrene/polystyreneacrylonitrile 504 Angstrom thick films showed 5-6 mu m segregated regions without any topological structure.