Density changes in very thin films of DPMMA as seen by neutron critical reflection

We present some preliminary evidence on the variation of polymer density with film thickness. Our studies are still at an early stage but nevertheless our results point out strongly the necessity of considering interfacial effects when thin films are involved. We studied the influence of annealing o...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fernandez, M, Higgins, J, Penfold, J, Ward, R, Shackleton, C, Walsh, D
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Publ by ACS 1989
Description
Summary:We present some preliminary evidence on the variation of polymer density with film thickness. Our studies are still at an early stage but nevertheless our results point out strongly the necessity of considering interfacial effects when thin films are involved. We studied the influence of annealing on the structure of two-layers approximately 1000 angstrom thick of dPMMA, one of high and one of low molecular weight. From the results it seems that the molecular weights of the dPMMA do not influence greatly the scattering length densities of the polymer. However, the film thickness plays a major role in the resulting magnitude of the density.