Analysis of surface and bulk polymerization of a thin film using a chemical derivatization technique and TOF-SIMS

The thin film was cut with microtome about 1° angle and was left to react with bromine and was measured using TOF-SIMS. It was clearly observed from this technique that double bond of acrylate and methacrylate monomer remained much more at the surface of the photo-initiated polymerized thin film, due to the inhibition of polymerization by oxygen. From the surface to 1 μm depth, both monomers show the same behavior, but the rate of polymerization of methacrylate monomer was lower than that of acrylate in deeper layers.