XPS Studies of the Interface between PMMA and Aluminium

Abstract

For many years x-ray photoelecton spectroscopy (XPS) has been successfully applied to the characterisation of the interphase between polymers and (oxidised) metal surfaces. The identification of elements and their relative concentration in a layer equal to the so called “sampling depth” of the method appears as a matter of routine nowadays. Concentration gradients are detected by combining XPS with ion etching; however this technique gives rise to some controversy poncerning the mixing that the ion beam might induce in the matrix.