No abstract

A toluene solution of 4,4 -methylenebis(2,6-diethylaniline) was spin coated on Si wafers. The samples were derivatized with pentafluorobenzaldehyde (PFB) in order to determine the primary amino groups on the surface. XPS C 1s and N 1s and C and N K-edge NEXAFS of underivatized and derivatized films were carefully analyzed. The result was that after 10 min of exposure the gas-surface reaction was already completed. A reasonable derivatization reaction yield in the order of 90% is derived from the experiments. This number correlates well to a reaction yield obtained by a wet chemical approach.

Chemical derivatization XPS is used for the quantitative determination of amines at conventional organic surfaces, and it is also applied to plasma‐processed aminated surfaces. When using TFBA and PFB as derivatization reagents for tagging primary amino groups, unexpected fluorine species were observed in the second case. The existence of reaction pathways other than those expected for amine derivatization with PFB or TFBA has to be assumed. This phenomenon is tentatively interpreted as the result of CF bond cleavage during derivatization reactions of TFBA and PFB at plasma‐polymerized allylamine and other plasma‐processed aminated surfaces. As a consequence, quantification procedures based on derivatization by PFB or TFBA will underestimate amine surface concentrations.

It is known that aminosilanized Si wafers may be used as microarray platforms. Results of an XPS study of a cleaning applied to Si wafers prior to aminosilanization are presented and discussed. Furthermore, the results of an aminosilanization protocol optimized in terms of nitrogen chemistry are described. After optimization of the protocol a free amine content of 94% was reached. The surface chemistry was investigated in this study by using XPS, time of flight (ToF)-SIMS and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Reference to aminosilanization protocols reported in the literature has been made.