EAG Application Solutions for Adhesion & Bonding

Adhesion involves joining two or more surfaces together. Failure can occur during this process when contaminants are introduced into the process. For polymer packaging, surface pretreatments, and organic coatings, failure often occurs due to the introduction of a thin layer of contaminants in one or both of the materials. In the case of metallic lead failure in microelectronics, the cause is frequently the result of an impurity, oxide layer, or buried species that diffuses to the surface of the material(s) during or after bonding.

Uncovering the source of adhesion and bonding problems requires surface-sensitive analytical tools that excel at detecting unknown materials. The failure point is typically determined by examining both sides of the delaminated interface.

Primary Analytical Techniques

• Auger Electron Spectroscopy (Auger)
• Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR)
• Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (TOF-SIMS)
• X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA)

Secondary Analytical Techniques

• Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)
• Raman Spectroscopy (Raman)

Application Notes