Functionalization of Surfaces Using Photolithography and Other Techniques

Abstract

Coated materials are encountered on a daily basis, and are a part of almost everything manufactured today. Despite their ubiquity, investigations on their chemical functionality and structure still provide interesting research potential. This dissertation investigates two kinds of coatings, polymeric and self-assembled monolayers (SAMs).

The polymeric coatings investigated are in the form of photoresists that are used to create substrates for laser ablation. Adjusting the composition of the photoresists leads to the formation of unique structures during this laser ablation. Another application of photoresists that was studied is the creation of transferable microstructures on a flexible substrate. These microstructures, in the form of arches, are created using multiphoton absorption polymerization.

The creation of a patterned SAMs substrate with the potential application as a microarray was explored. Photolithography and soft lithography approaches were tested to create these amine-functionalized surfaces. In addition, silicon nitride surfaces were investigated as a suitable substrate for alkylphosphonate SAMs. A variety of surface techniques including sum frequency generation and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were employed to study these surfaces and ultimately the presence of a multilayer, more than one monolayer, was found.