Chemical surface modification of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films using extreme ultraviolet

Surface modification of polymers is often required to make the material suitable for specific application. Physical and chemical properties can be altered using a number of well developed techniques, such as plasma treatment, excimer lasers, chemical treatment, surface coating, plasma immersion ion implantation-deposition and laser surface structuring. Extreme ultraviolet radiations have limited penetration depth as they are readily absorbed even in low dense medium. However, their interaction with polymer surfaces is very strong due to high energy level of these photons. Therefore, EUV photons can be used to induce surface modifications in the polymer surfaces. This study is focused on the use of EUV photons for chemical surface modification of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) films to incorporate nitrogen atoms. Nitrogen doping is often desirable in biomaterials to enhance the biocompatibility. EUV treated PET films in the presence of nitrogen and helium environments were studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to examine the EUV induce chemical modifications.