TY - JOUR A1 - Fahmy, A. A1 - Mix, Renate A1 - Schönhals, Andreas A1 - Friedrich, Jörg Florian T1 - Structure of plasma-deposited poly(acrylic acid) films JF - Plasma processes and polymers N2 - Poly(acrylic acid) films with a thickness of about 150?nm were deposited using a pulsed plasma onto aluminum and glass. The structure/property relationships of these samples were studied in dependence to the duty cycle (DC) of the plasma by a broad combination of different techniques and probes. For the first time, volume sensitive methods (FTIR, dielectric spectroscopy, and differential scanning calorimetry) are combined with surface analyses i.e. XPS. For an unambiguous identification of COOH groups by XPS, derivatization with trifluoroethanol was accomplished. Quantitative FTIR investigations give qualitatively a dependence of the concentration of COOH groups upon DC similar to that given by XPS investigations. The observed differences are discussed considering the different analytical depths of both methods. The dielectric measurements reveal that the structure of the plasma deposited films is different from that of the bulk material. Moreover, these measurements show also that the plasma deposited films are not thermally stable but undergo a post plasma chemical reaction during heating, where the reaction kinetics depends on DC. PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ppap.201000108 SN - 1612-8850 SN - 1612-8869 VL - 8 IS - 2 SP - 147 EP - 159 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-23478 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -