Nitrogen‐Rich Plasma‐Polymer Films for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Abstract Low‐pressure plasma co‐polymerisation of binary gas mixtures of ethylene and ammonia was investigated in order to deposit N‐rich plasma polymer coatings for biomedical applications. Deposition kinetics and relevant surface characteristics were investigated as a function of r.f. power, gas pressure, and NH 3 /C 2 H 4 ratio. Physico‐chemical properties of the coatings were determined by surface‐sensitive techniques: for example, total nitrogen concentrations up to 40 at.‐% were measured by XPS, while those of primary amines were determined by chemical derivatisation followed by XPS analysis. L‐PPE:N films were further characterised by UV‐vis and IR spectroscopic ellipsometry and by CAG. magnified image