Preparation and characterization of thin organosilicon films deposited on SPR chip

International audienceThe paper reports on the preparation and characterization of organosilicon thin polymer films deposited on glass slides coated with 5 nm adhesion layer of titanium and 50 nm of gold. The polymer was obtained by the decomposition of 1,1,3,3-tetramethyldisiloxane precursor (TMDSO) premixed with oxygen induced in a N2 plasma afterglow using remote plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) technique. The film thickness was controlled by laser interferometry and was 9 nm. The chemical stability of the gold substrate coated with the organosilicon polymer film (p-TMDSO) was studied in different acidic and basic solutions (pH 1–14). While the gold/polymer interface showed a high stability in acidic media, the film was almost completely removed in basic solutions. The resulting surfaces were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), water contact angle measurements, cyclic voltammetry, and surface plasmon resonance (SPR)