Porous inorganic–organic hybrid material by oxygen plasma treatment

Abstract

In this paper, we present the pore formation on inorganic-organic hybrid material, ORMOCER © , by reactive ion etching. ORMOCERs are composed of inorganic backbone where organic side groups are attached by cross-linking. Etching of ORMOCER in oxygen plasma generates porous materials with different pore sizes depending on the etching parameters. In addition to planar films, this pore formation process is applicable to micro and nanostructures. Characteristics of porous materials are evaluated by contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared-attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy, time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Based on these analyses, it can be concluded that carbon is depleted in the plasma process and oxygen plasma converts the surface of the hybrid film to a more SiO 2 -like material. Area selective pore formation is also possible by using a metallic etch mask. The porous material is stable enough to allow further processing, e.g. sputtering, plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition and atomic layer thin film deposition. This method may thus be used in different applications in fluidics, optics and elsewhere in micro and nanotechnology.

Oxygen and nitrogen plasma hydrophilization and hydrophobic recovery of polymers

“…42 We have recently studied the hydrophilization and pore formation process of ORMOCOMP by an oxygen plasma process using a different oxygen plasma process (reactive ion etching). 43 In that study, we found that the contact angles of all but the most clearly porous samples recovered to around 45 in three weeks, while the strongly porous samples retained complete wetting during that period.…”

“…The oxygen plasma treated samples had contact angles of around 50 after 100 days, consistent with the less porous samples of our previous study. 43 The nitrogen plasma treated samples had recovered completely to around 70 during 100 days. Compared with our previous study, 43 we do not find as stable hydrophilization due to the fact that the samples of this study are nonporous.…”

Cell adhesion and osteogenic differentiation on three‐dimensional pillar surfaces

“…The Ormocomp® (Micro Resist Technology, Berlin, Germany) pillars were fabricated by UV‐embossing27 and plasma treatment 28. The pillar structures were first etched into silicon as described above and then transferred into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS; Sylgard 184, Dow Corning, Midland, MI) by casting.…”

Laser Direct Writing of Thick Hybrid Polymers for Microfluidic Chips

“…Polymer-like behavior enables for example spin coating and patterning by UV-embossing but it has problems in residual layer that prevents the fabrication of many microstructures [10]. ORMOCOMP ® channels have been shown to be free of fouling, as evidenced by stable migration times, which indicate that there are no hydrophobic or electrostatic interactions between ORMOCOMP ® and positively charged proteins [11,12]. ORMOCOMP ® has been utilized in cell growth platforms, by 3D two-photon polymerization [7][8][9].…”

“…Due to its low shrinkage during curing, ORMOCOMP ® is very well suited for the replication of small features [10]. In addition, nanoscale pores can be formed in ORMOCOMP ® though the use of oxygen plasma [11]. The organic component is selectively removed, leaving an oxide skeleton with 10-100 nm pores.…”