Surface analysis of plasma-treated polydimethylsiloxane by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface voltage decay

Surface states of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) treated by plasma were investigated by x‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and surface voltage decay. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a silica‐like (SiOx, x = 3–4) oxidative surface layer. This layer increased in thickness with increasing exposure duration of plasma. Plasma exposure lowers the surface resistivity from 1.78 × 1014 to 1.09 × 1013 Ω □−1 with increasing plasma treatment time. By measuring the decay time constant of surface voltage, the calculated surface resistivity was compared with the value measured directly by a voltage–current method; good agreement between the two methods was obtained. It was observed that plasma treatment led to a decrease in the thermal activation energy of the surface conduction from 31.0 kJ mol−1 for an untreated specimen to 21.8 kJ mol−1 for a plasma‐treated specimen for 1 h. Our results allow the examination of effects of plasma on the electrical properties of PDMS. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.