Photoelectron emission microscopy and its application to the study of polymer surfaces

The X-ray photoelectron emission microscopy at the Advanced Light Source has a spatial resolution of 0.2 microns at an accelerating voltage of 12 kV. The tunability of the photon energy is used to provide chemical state information using near edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy on the sub-micrometer scale. The homogeneity of thin films of polymer blends was studied for various film thicknesses. The polystyrene/polyvinylmethylether film of 194 Å showed protrusions of 2-3 μm diameter with an enriched polystyrene content while the polystyrene/polystyrencacrylonitrile 504 Å thick films showed 5-6 μm segregated regions without any topological structure.