Attenuated total reflection of dielectric/metal interfaces

An experimental system for the characterization of metal/dielectric interfaces has been developed. Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) spectroscopy of a dielectric on a thin metal film, deposited on a multiple reflection ATR element, yields information about the bonding, or lack thereof, at the metal/dielectric interface. At a certain metal thickness, the absorbance due to molecules at the interface, relative to the signal from the bulk dielectric, is at a maximum. A model which uses the Fresnel equations in matrix form, has been used to predict the best metal thickness for each dielectric/metal/ATR element system. The ATR element may be placed in an environmental chamber in which the temperature, humidity etc. can be varied, in order to test the integrity of the interface to hostile environments. Chemometric analysis of the IR spectral data maximizes our ability to measure small changes in the interface properties. Preliminary results from polyimide/metal samples are presented