Quantitative chemical derivatization technique in time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry for surface amine groups on plasma-polymerized ethylenediamine film.

A chemical derivatization technique in time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) has been developed to quantify the surface density of amine groups of plasma-polymerized ethylenediamine thin film deposited on a glass surface by inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition. Chemical tags of 4-nitrobenzaldehyde or pentafluorobenzaldehyde were hybridized with the surface amine groups and were detected in TOF-SIMS spectra as characteristic molecular secondary ions. The surface amine density was controlled in a reproducible manner as a function of deposition plasma power and was also quantified using UV-visible spectroscopy. A good linear correlation was observed between the results of TOF-SIMS and UV-visible measurements as a function of plasma power. This shows that the chemical derivatization technique in TOF-SIMS analysis would be useful in quantifying the surface density of specific functional groups that exist on the organic surface.