The effects of a glow discharge on the nucleation characteristics of gold on polymer substrates

Small amounts of gold were deposited onto organic substrates of stearic acid and polyethylene. Some nucleation characteristics of the gold were studied using transmission electron microscopy and were compared with the nucleation characteristics observed on the more conventional carbon substrates. It was shown that, by exposing the organic substrates to a glow discharge in air, their surface structure was changed by the removal of hydrogen by plasma etching. This produced a surface layer composed mainly of carbon or of carbon and oxygen and it was demonstrated that the subsequent nucleation behaviour of gold on these exposed surfaces was very similar to that of gold on pure carbon films.