The Effects of Plasma Treatments on the Surface Energy of the Polycarbonates and on the Adhesion Strength of the Cu Film/Polycarbonate Interface

Polycarbonates are widely used as housing materials of electronic handsets. Since the polycarbonate is electrically insulating, there should be a conducting layer on the polycarbonate for EMI shielding. In this study, we sputter deposited Cu films on the polycarbonate substrates for EMI shielding. Plasma treatments of polycarbonates were used to increase the adhesion strength of the Cu film/polycarbonate interface. The surface energy of the polycarbonate was greatly increased from $30mJ/m^2 \;to\; 65mJ/m^2$ by a 200 W $O_2$ plasma treatment for 10s. It is thought that this is because of the ion bombardment. The adhesion strength of the sputter deposited Cu film to the polycarbonate was quantitatively measured by a 4 point bending tester. A moderate plasma surface treatment of the polycarbonate increased the Cu film/polycarbonate adhesion strength by $30\%$. The EMI shielding efficiency of the sputter deposited $10{\mu}m$ Cu lam on the polycarbonate showed 90dB in the range of 100MHz to 1000MHz.

플라즈마 표면처리에 의한 폴리카보네이트의 표면에너지 및 구리박막과의 접착력 변화에 관한 연구