Fabrication of Variable Morphologies on Argon Sputtered PMMA Surfaces

Ion beam induced patterning and fabrication of various topographies over polymeric surfaces has drawn strong interest due to latent applications in photonics, magnetic devices, optical devices and photovoltaics etc. In this work, we report the controlled surface structuring and evolution of different morphologies in Poly(methyl methacrylate) polymer using Ar+ ion beam fabrication technique. Morphological and structural analysis has been performed by ex situ Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and X-ray Diffraction. The effect of oblique incidences on argon sputtered films was evaluated by various surface topography and texture parameters, such as Fast Fourier Transforms, surface roughness, skewness, kurtosis. AFM study demonstrates fabrication of transient morphologies over argon sputtered surfaces. One dimensional (1D) cross section scans of surface profiles are determined and morphological features are investigated. The results showed halo peaks in the XRD patterns, which indicate the amorphous nature of this type of polymer. The formation of these surface structures is attributed to the different degree of sputtering yield at different off-normal incidences and preferential sputtering of hydrogen in comparison to carbon in ion sputtered surfaces