Polyimides are frequently used as insulating layers in the microelectronics industry. These polymers are tough, have high thermal stability, and have favorable dielectric properties; consequently, polyimides are excellent materials for insulating layers in microelectronic devices. In this research, self-assembled monolayers are investigated for use as an adhesion promoter for metal substrates, and for corrosion protectors of the metal surface. Gold substrates modified by adsorption of 3- and 4-aminothiophenol monolayers, 3- and (4-mercaptophenyl) phthalimide (MPP) monolayers, and by reaction of the 3- and 4-aminothiophenol monolayers with the phthalic anhydride were studied using reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy, contact angle measurement, ellipsometry, and electrochemical measurements. Reactions on the monolayers are used to model the attachment of an insulating polyimide to the substrate. The covalent attachment of the anhydride is confirmed, and the efficiency of the reaction of the aminothiolphenol monolayers is investigated. The reactivity of the aminothiolphenol monolayers is found to depend on the position of the amino-group around the phenyl ring. Impedance spectroscopy is used to investigate the ionic insulating properties of these systems. The 4-mercaptophthalimide monolayer is found to have the highest monolayer resistance to ion transport. This result suggests that it forms the most densely packed monolayer. The monolayer resistance of the surfaces prepared by adsorption of the aminothiolphenol isomers followed by reaction with phthalic anhydride is much lower than the corresponding deposited mercaptophthalimide monolayers. These results suggest that the reaction efficiency is low. Impedance spectroscopy and polarization measurements suggests a higher protection efficiency for 3-mercaptophenylphthalimide. These results will be discussed in the context of the ability of the isomeric mercaptophthalimide monolayers to serve as protectors against substrate corrosion. / Ph. D.

The global progression towards sustainable energy, materials and chemicals requires novel and improved analytical tools to understand and optimize lignocellulosic biomass utilization. In an effort to advance lignocellulose characterization, gain insights into biomass processing, and obtain novel perspectives on cell wall ultrastructure, this study utilizes three principal polymer characterization techniques, namely compressive-torsion dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), deuterium quadrupolar nuclear magnetic resonance (2H NMR) and rheo-infrared spectroscopy. A novel parallel-plate compressive-torsion DMA protocol is developed to analyze very small solvent-plasticized biomass specimens with or without mechanical integrity. The benefits and limitations of this technique are demonstrated by comparing it to a conventional tensile-torsion DMA while analyzing various solvent-plasticized lignocelluloses. The rheology of wood in various organic solvents is studied through dynamic thermal scans, Time/temperature superposition (TTS) and fragility analysis. Plasticizing solvents and wood grain orientation significantly affected the lignin glass-transition temperature. Dynamic TTS reveals that while all storage modulus data shift smoothly, the thermorheological complexity of solvent-plasticized wood becomes evident in loss component master curves. It is argued that the plasticized lignocellulose TTS is insightful and potentially useful, although it fails to satisfy the classic TTS validity criteria. Subsequently, it is justified that the fragility analysis is a better suited treatment than the WLF model to investigate cooperative segmental motions of plasticized wood. Deuterium quadrupolar NMR reveals a new perspective on the orientation of amorphous wood polymers and two distinct amorphous polymer domains: a highly oriented phase in the S2 layer of the secondary cell wall and an isotropic phase postulated to occur in the compound middle lamella (CML). If the origin of the isotropic phase is confirmed to arise from the CML, then this technique provides a way to independently investigate the morphology and phase dynamics of CML and S2 in an intact tissue, and should bring novel insights into deconstructive strategies specific to the oriented and unoriented domains. Finally the effects of a wood-adhesion promoter (hydroxymethyl resorcinol, HMR) on in-situ wood polymers are studied to elucidate the still unresolved HMR-lignocellulose interactions. DMA, creep-TTS and 2H NMR reveal that HMR increases the crosslink density and restricts the mobility of wood amorphous phase. Rheo-IR spectroscopy shows that the molecular stress-transfer mechanism is altered within the wood cell wall. / Ph. D.

I samarbete med Sherwin-Williams AB, utvecklades en metod med kontaktvinkelmätning för att teoretiskt uppskatta vätbarhet och vidhäftningsförmåga av industriella färger på stålsubstrat. Optisk tensiometer och Youngs ekvation kombinerat med OWRK beräkningsmodell användes för att bestämma ytenergier. Det föreslogs att kontaktvinkelmätning bör inkludera bestämning av ytenergi av det fasta substratet, ytspänning av färgen samt beräkning av polaritet och gränssnittsenergi mellan de två bindande ytorna, för att stämma bra överens med färgens praktiskt uppskattade vidhäftningsförmåga. Det konstaterades att kontaktvinkel är en nödvändig faktor för att få information om teoretisk bindningsstyrka mellan två bindande ytor, men stämde någorlunda bra med praktiskt uppskattad vidhäftningsförmåga från mekanisk testmetod. Vidare studier utfördes för att identifiera styrkor och svagheter med kontaktvinkelmätningen och förstå inverkan av olika huvudegenskaper av färger på dess vidhäftning. Fem olika lösningsmedelsbaserade färger av typen två-komponentsystem tillverkades i syfte att studera effekter från två olika vidhäftningsfrämjande additiv, ett epoxysilan och ett aminosilan samt två olika fyllnadsmedel, kieseldioxid (SiO2) pulver och CaCO3/BaSO4 pulverblandning. Det konstaterades att silan inte förbättrade vidhäftning av färgerna på metallsubstraten, på grund av den snabba exoteriska reaktion som sker mellan silan och isocyanat härdare komponent B, när det blandas med färgen (komponent A). Till följd fås hastig viskositets- och temperaturökning som ökade avdunstning av lösningsmedlet och orsakade försämrad utplaning och flöde av färgen på metallytan. Det konstaterades även att fyllnadsmedlet CaCO3/BaSO4 var bättre än kiseldioxid (SiO2), delvis på grund av lägre oljeabsorptionsvärde som resulterar i lägre viskositetökning och bättre flöde av färgen. Rekommendationer för framtida studier är att analysera effekter av silan i ett en-komponentsystem för att eliminera effekter av snabb avdunstning av lösningsmedel och härdningskinetik mellan färg (komponent A) och härdare (komponent B). Reologi studier med reometer kan användas för att få mer information om varför CaCO3/BaSO4 visades vara ett bättre fyllnadsmedel än kiseldioxid. / In collaboration with Sherwin-Williams AB, a method with contact angle technique was developed to theoretically predict wettability and adhesive bonding between industrial paint coatings and steel substrates. The technique used was optical tensiometer and Young’s equation combined with OWRK calculation model was used to determine surface and interfacial energetics. It was suggested that the contact angle measurements must include measurements of the surface energy of the solid, surface tension of the liquid paint and calculation of polarity and interfacial tension between the bonding surfaces, to best correlate with practically estimated adhesion property of the paint coatings. It was stated that though contact angle proved to be a prerequisite factor to acquire information about adhesive bonds between two bonding surfaces, it did not entirely correlate with the findings from practically estimated adhesion performance from pull-off investigations. Work was dedicated to identifying strengths and weaknesses with the contact angle measurements and understanding the impact of other key properties of the paint coatings on adhesion performance. Five different solvent-based, two-component paint systems were manufactured to be able to see the effects on adhesion performance from two adhesion promoting additives, an epoxysilane and an aminosilane, as well as two different filler packages: silicon dioxide SiO2 (silica) filler package and CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package, respectively. It was concluded that the silanes did not improve adhesion performance of the paint coatings because of fast exothermic reaction that takes place between silane and isocyanate hardener component B when added to the liquid paint component A. Rapid viscosity rise and temperature rise was observed, which increased the evaporation rate of the solvent and impaired the leveling and flowing of the paint coating to the steel substrates. It was also unexpectedly observed that the CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package outperformed the silica filler package, partly because of its lower oil absorbance, which resulted in lower viscosity rise and better flowing of the paint coating. For future studies, it was recommended to analyze effects of the silanes in a one-component paint system to eliminate unfavored effects from evaporation of the solvent and cure kinetics of paint component A and isocyanate hardener component B. The superior paint quality contributed from the CaCO3/BaSO4 filler package could be better understood by rheology investigations with rheometer.

Conducting polymers find variety of application in many areas in microelectronics. PPY and PT are among the most extensively studied intrinsically conducting polymers. The problem of poor adhesion of the electrochemically deposited conducting polymers was the main focus of this work. This easy peeling of the PPY layer from the oxide substrate was circumvented by design of novel adhesion promoters, which compatibilise the two incompatible surfaces- the polymer film and the oxide substrate. The first part of the research was focused on the synthesis of different classes of adhesion promoters. These monomers were based on monoheterocyclic derivative of 3-substituted pyrrole and a tricyclic derivative of 2,5-dithienylpyrrole. The synthesized monomers were bifunctional with a specified and defined task for each group. Pyrrole based monomers, 3-phenyl N-alkyl pyrrolyl phosphonic acids referred as C10PhP and C12PhP and the monomers based on 2,5-dithienylpyrrole were synthesized with different anchoring groups namely, -Si(OMe)3 and-PO3H2 and spacer groups (n= 4, 6, 10, 12, benzyl). SNSnP for [(2,5-dithiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-dodecyl]-phosphonic acid, SNSnTMS for [(2,5-dithiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-alkyl]-trimethoxysilane and ArP for 4-(2,5-di-thiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-1-yl)-benzyl]-phosphonic acid was used as acronym for further references. The adsorption and self-organisation process as well as the surface reactions of these adhesion promoters on different oxide surfaces have been investigated. The aim was to graft conducting polymer layers covalently on modified metal oxide surfaces. This novel molecule has the self-assembling property and can bind to the surface via acid-base interactions with the oxide surface. The pre-treated oxide substrates were modified by self-assembling technique from solution. Static contact angle gave the first indication of a successful adsorption. The kinetics of adsorption was monitored by Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR), Angle-Resolved X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (AR-XPS) confirms that the molecules are standing with the phosphonic acid group present in the inner part of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM), and the 2,5-dithienylpyrrole group is free on the top for further surface reactions. Such self-assembling molecules can find applications in grafting conducting polymer layers on metal oxide surfaces. The grafting process of conducting polymer was done either chemically or electrochemically with additional monomer. Thickness and morphology of the polymer films were studied by AFM and SEM. The film thickness could be adjusted between several hundreds of nanometer by varying the polymerization conditions. The tape-test confirms the strong adhesive bonding of the polymer to the modified substrate. Besides PPY, Poly(SNS) and Poly(SNSnP) were studied for their properties. The optical properties of Poly(SNS) were studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Electrochemically deposited polymer films of (Poly(SNS), Poly(SNSnTMS), Poly(ArP) and Poly(SNSnP)) was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, XPS, grazing-angle FTIR spectroscopy, four-point conductivity and I-V and luminance - voltage characteristics. Grazing-angle FT-IR of the homopolymer, poly(SNSnP) showed interesting results. We observed the peaks due to P-OH at 1111 cm-1 indicating that the phosphonic acid is free on the top. This can find application as ion sensor because phosphonates are known to be good chelating agents. Comparison of the EIS and four-point conductivity measurements for the homopolymers of SNSnP and Poly(SNS) indicated a drop in the conductivity in case of substituted hompolymers. Poly(SNSnP) based LED device give white emission. EL spectra show broad bands, which cover the entire spectrum. They can be studied further for the development of light emitting diodes of different colours.

Conducting polymers find variety of application in many areas in microelectronics. PPY and PT are among the most extensively studied intrinsically conducting polymers. The problem of poor adhesion of the electrochemically deposited conducting polymers was the main focus of this work. This easy peeling of the PPY layer from the oxide substrate was circumvented by design of novel adhesion promoters, which compatibilise the two incompatible surfaces- the polymer film and the oxide substrate. The first part of the research was focused on the synthesis of different classes of adhesion promoters. These monomers were based on monoheterocyclic derivative of 3-substituted pyrrole and a tricyclic derivative of 2,5-dithienylpyrrole. The synthesized monomers were bifunctional with a specified and defined task for each group. Pyrrole based monomers, 3-phenyl N-alkyl pyrrolyl phosphonic acids referred as C10PhP and C12PhP and the monomers based on 2,5-dithienylpyrrole were synthesized with different anchoring groups namely, -Si(OMe)3 and-PO3H2 and spacer groups (n= 4, 6, 10, 12, benzyl). SNSnP for [(2,5-dithiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-dodecyl]-phosphonic acid, SNSnTMS for [(2,5-dithiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-alkyl]-trimethoxysilane and ArP for 4-(2,5-di-thiophen-2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-1-yl)-benzyl]-phosphonic acid was used as acronym for further references. The adsorption and self-organisation process as well as the surface reactions of these adhesion promoters on different oxide surfaces have been investigated. The aim was to graft conducting polymer layers covalently on modified metal oxide surfaces. This novel molecule has the self-assembling property and can bind to the surface via acid-base interactions with the oxide surface. The pre-treated oxide substrates were modified by self-assembling technique from solution. Static contact angle gave the first indication of a successful adsorption. The kinetics of adsorption was monitored by Surface Plasmon Resonance Spectroscopy (SPR), Angle-Resolved X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (AR-XPS) confirms that the molecules are standing with the phosphonic acid group present in the inner part of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM), and the 2,5-dithienylpyrrole group is free on the top for further surface reactions. Such self-assembling molecules can find applications in grafting conducting polymer layers on metal oxide surfaces. The grafting process of conducting polymer was done either chemically or electrochemically with additional monomer. Thickness and morphology of the polymer films were studied by AFM and SEM. The film thickness could be adjusted between several hundreds of nanometer by varying the polymerization conditions. The tape-test confirms the strong adhesive bonding of the polymer to the modified substrate. Besides PPY, Poly(SNS) and Poly(SNSnP) were studied for their properties. The optical properties of Poly(SNS) were studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. Electrochemically deposited polymer films of (Poly(SNS), Poly(SNSnTMS), Poly(ArP) and Poly(SNSnP)) was investigated by UV-Vis spectroscopy, XPS, grazing-angle FTIR spectroscopy, four-point conductivity and I-V and luminance - voltage characteristics. Grazing-angle FT-IR of the homopolymer, poly(SNSnP) showed interesting results. We observed the peaks due to P-OH at 1111 cm-1 indicating that the phosphonic acid is free on the top. This can find application as ion sensor because phosphonates are known to be good chelating agents. Comparison of the EIS and four-point conductivity measurements for the homopolymers of SNSnP and Poly(SNS) indicated a drop in the conductivity in case of substituted hompolymers. Poly(SNSnP) based LED device give white emission. EL spectra show broad bands, which cover the entire spectrum. They can be studied further for the development of light emitting diodes of different colours.

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