Modulating surface stiffness of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with kiloelectronvolt ion patterning

Boyin Liu, Jing Fu

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16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study is to investigate the modulated surface properties of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with kiloelectronvolt ions. By irradiating the PDMS surface with a focused ion beam (FIB, keV Ga+), nano/microscale patterns of controlled stiffness can be fabricated with ion fluence ranging from 0.1–20 pC µm−2. The following nanoindentation measurements with an atomic force microscope (AFM) revealed that Young's modulus increased exponentially with the increase of ion fluence and reached 2 GPa. The stiffening was found to be less significant with irradiation at a higher ion incident angle and lower accelerating voltage. Raman spectroscopy results also confirmed that disordering caused by cross-linking and hydrogen release occurred on the target PDMS surface. By modelling and experimenting on PDMS-Si3N4 bilayer structures, the volume reduction ratios of PDMS with ion beam and electron beam irradiation were estimated. The proposed site specific modulating method and understanding of detailed governing mechanisms will allow the tuning of the PDMS surface with great accuracy and flexibility towards future applications in tissue engineering and microfabrication.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1 - 9
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Micromechanics and Microengineering
Volume25
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 May 2015

Keywords

  • Ion material interactions
  • Stiffness
  • Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)
  • Focused ion beam

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