Metal/polymer adhesion enhancement by reactive ion assisted interface bonding and mixing

The adhesion strength between sputter deposited Al on Teflon AF 1600 was increased from <0.15 N/mm to > 0.7 N/mm by treating the interface with reactive ion assisted interface bonding and mixing (RIAIBM) and subsequent annealing. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements indicate the RIAIBM process and subsequent annealing promotes material mixing, implantation of the reactive species, bond breaking, and new bond formation at the interface. These factors are known to increase adhesion strength. The implementation of RIAIBM is straight forward and is suitable for application to both metal-on-polymer and polymer-on-metal systems. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics. [S0003-6951(97)03844-8].