Ss. Shiratori et M. Yamada, Nano-scale control of composite polymer films by mass-controlled layer-by-layer sequential adsorption of polyelectrolytes, POLYM ADV T, 11(8-12), 2000, pp. 810-814
The mass of polyelectrolyte films adsorbed onto a surface during the deposi
tion of a thin polymer film by a layer-by-layer sequential adsorption proce
ss was systematically controlled using a feedback system with a computer. F
or the deposition process, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with an inte
grated oscillation circuit was attached to the arm of an automatic slide st
ainer and the frequency shift during adsorption or rinsing of the polyelect
rolytes was monitored by a computer attached to a frequency counter. By fee
ding back the data acquired by the in situ QCM measurement, the mass of mat
erial deposited was controlled and a high quality self-assembly Firn was pr
oduced. This is termed mass-controlled layer-by-layer sequential adsorption
. The accuracy of the layer thickness in the multiplayer film was found to
be approximately 1 nm. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.