Abstract
Surfaces of plastics are studied by RF sputter etching process. The surface texture of PTFE changes from initial submicron hillocks to larger cones and finally to needle like texture during sputter etching. These surface textures are formed by sputter etching in other plastics, provided that they have the same characteristic of tending to decompose thermally to their monomer gas. It is proposed that such a surface texture can be formed because a repolymerization process of the sputtered monomer gas occurs in parallel with the ion etching process.
