Preparation of chemical gradient surfaces by hyperthermal polyatomic ion deposition: A new method for combinatorial materials science

surface, which increases in coverage with C3F5 + ion fluence. The air/water contact angle increases in parallel with the fluorine content along the surface gradient. These results clearly indicate that a chemical and wettability gradient is produced on PMMA by mass-selected hyperthermal ion deposition. C3F5 + ion deposition can also be used to produce chemical gradient surfaces on polystyrene, aluminum, and silicon substrates. It is shown that hyperthermal polyatomic ion deposition is a general method for a wide range of surface chemical gradients on various substrates including polymers, metals, semiconductors, and ceramics.