A high-frequency plasma-discharge effect on poly(ethylene) terephthalate films exposed to heavy ions

Abstract An effect of radio-frequency RF-discharge plasma on the chemical etching rate of xenon ions’ tracks (energy ∼ 1 MeV/nucleon) in poly(ethylene) terephthalate (PET) films has been studied. An influence of the plasma treatment conditions on the structure and the properties of the track membranes (TM) produced in the course of etching was also investigated. It has been figured out that the effect of the non-polymerizing gas plasma on the PET films exposed to heavy ions causes a decrease in the etching effect of both the tracks and the source polymeric matrix. It is shown that the changes in the track etching and the polymeric matrix caused by coupling the polymer's surface layer lead to arising of an asymmetry in the track membrane's structure. It has been found that the polymerizing gas plasma effect on the PET films exposed to heavy ions also causes decreasing the track etching effect. This result from the formation of a thin polymeric chemically stable diamond-like film (DLF) on the surface exposed to plasma. The chemical etching of the PET films exposed to ions with the deposited DLF layer leads to formation of composite semipenetrable membranes or asymmetric TM.