Transmittance of baked spin-coated

poly(methyl methacrylate) films

Cite as: AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 020001 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053177
Published Online: 05 September 2018

Assanee Jaipean, Phasit Suriyakiat, and Kamol Wasapinyokul

ARTICLES YOU MAY BE INTERESTED IN

Preface: International Conference on Science and Technology of Emerging Materials 2018

(STEMa2018)
AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 010001 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053176

Effects of spin-coating recipe on the transmittance of spin-coated TiO2 films

AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 020002 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053178

Synthesis and characterization of F doped ZnO nanopowders by chemical routes of co-

precipitation and sonochemical process
AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 020004 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053180

AIP Conference Proceedings 2010, 020001 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053177 2010, 020001

© 2018 Author(s).
 Transmittance of Baked Spin-Coated
Poly(methyl methacrylate) Films
Assanee Jaipean1, Phasit Suriyakiat1, and Kamol Wasapinyokul1, a)
1
College of Advanced Manufacturing Innovation
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Bangkok, Thailand
a)
Corresponding author: kamol.wa@kmitl.ac.th

Abstract. Thin films of poly (methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, were fabricated by a spin-coating method and the effects
of two fabrication recipes – the 2nd-step spin-coating speed and the baking temperature after spin-coating – on the optical
transmittance of the film over the visible-to-infrared region were examined. For the 2nd-step spin-coating speed, it was
observed that the transmittance of the film increased with the speed, but with a decreasing rate. This could be attributed
to the film thickness; the film with a faster coating speed would be thinner, leading to higher transmittance. For the
baking temperature, all the baked films provided roughly the same level of transmittance regardless of their baking
temperatures after spin-coating, except the one baked at 130 qC. The sample baked at such temperature provided
approximately 5% lower transmittance than those of the others. This effect was supposedly contributed to the glass
transition temperature of the PMMA. The baking temperature of 130 qC was closed to the glass transition temperature of
the material which is at 105 qC. Thus the film baked at such temperature was supposedly in a mixture of glassy state and
solid state, leading to a disordered morphology and hence lower transmittance. The results from this study could be used
to help adjust the fabricating conditions of a spin-coated film of PMMA to provide a required optical transmittance.

INTRODUCTION
Poly (methyl methacrylate), or PMMA, is a polymer with various applications due to its several good properties in
different categories. Its unique electrical properties including high dielectric constant and high resistivity with high
breakdown potential makes it a good choice to be applied in several electronics devices including organic field-effect
transistors [1] and sensors [2]. Together with its high transmittance of over 92% [3], PMMA is often studied as a
potential material for optoelectronics applications such as solar cell [4] and photo-transistor [5]
An advantage of PMMA is that it can be deposited as thin film on a substrate through wet processes including dip-
coating [6] and spin-coating processes [7-10]. As a potential component in electronics devices, the spin-coated
PMMA films have been studied to find the effects of spin-coating recipe – types of solvents, spin-coating rotational
speed, annealing temperature – on the material’s morphology [7,8], electrical properties [8,9], and mechanical
properties [10].
Even though optical properties, especially its transmittance, of the spin-coated PMMA films are its crucial
property to be used in opto-electronic devices, there is still a lack of study on the effect of spin-coating recipe on such
optical property of the film. Some studies, nevertheless, have been found reporting on the effects of annealing
temperature on the film’s transmittance [11], and the effects have been contributed to the glass temperature of the
material. However, there is no detailed study to confirm such claims.
Here in this paper we report on the effects of two fabrication parameters – the spin-coating rotational speed and
the annealing temperature, on the transmittance on the PMMA film. The results were then discussed and potential
future studies and applications were subsequently provided.

International Conference on Science and Technology of Emerging Materials

AIP Conf. Proc. 2010, 020001-1–020001-5; https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5053177
Published by AIP Publishing. 978-0-7354-1726-7/$30.00

020001-1
 FIGURE 1. Skeletal structural formula of PMMA

EXPERIMENTAL
The experimental processes can be mainly separated into two main steps: the fabrications and the characterisations
of the film.
The fabrications of the film can be explained starting with the preparation of the solution and substrates. For the
solution, PMMA with average molecular weight 350,000 purchased from Sigma Aldrich was dissolved in butyl
acetate to give a 7% w/v solution. Figure 1 shows the skeletal structural formula of the chemical. The quoted glass
transition temperature of the material is 105 qC. To promote the dissolution, the solution was stirred for 48 hours and
then the PMMA was noticeably completely dissolved in the solvent. For the substrate preparation, microscope glass
slides were cut to give glass substrates of size 1.5 u 1.5 cm2. The cut substrates were subsequently cleaned by being
submersed firstly in acetone and then isopropanol for 15 minutes each in an ultrasonic bath. Subsequently they were
baked at 80 qC for the next 10 minutes to dry out the residual cleaning agents.
The PMMA solution was spin-coated onto two sets of substrates to provide two sets of samples: the first one with
different spin-coating rotational speeds and the second one with different annealing temperatures. For the first set of
samples, PMMA solution was spin-coated onto seven samples with the same 1st-step speed of 1000 rpm for 10
seconds, followed by the 2nd-step speed for another 20 seconds. All seven samples were spin-coated with seven
different 2nd-step speeds, starting from 1000 rpm to 4000 rpm with an increasing step of 500 rpm. After spin-coated,
this first set of samples were baked for 10 minutes at 80 qC. For the second set of samples, PMMA solution was spin-
coated onto five substrates with the same spin-coating speed, starting from the 1st-step speed of 1000 rpm for 10
seconds followed by the 2nd-step speed of 2000 rpm for another 20 seconds. Consequently, each sample was baked for
10 minutes at different temperatures from 25 qC to 180 qC.
After spin-coated, all samples were characterised for their transmittance over the visible-to-near-infrared region
from 300 nm to 1100 nm with a step of 1 nm and the results were discussed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Effects of Spin-Coating Speed on the Transmittance

Figure 2 shows the relative transmittance of the PMMA films with the different 2 nd-step spin-coating speeds
from 1000 rpm to 4000 rpm with an increasing step of 500 rpm over the visible-to-near-infrared region. The values
of transmittance shown were nominalised by the highest value of all samples, and thus they are denoted as the
relative values.
The relations show a relatively flat transmittance over the visible region, which is a typical characteristic of the
PMMA [3]. However, there are some variations among the transmittances of the films with difference spin-coating
speeds. This can be seen more clearly in Figure 3 where the relations between the 2nd-step spin-coating speed and
the relative transmittance at three wavelengths: 350 nm, 550 nm, and 750 nm, are plotted. At all wavelengths, the

020001-2
relations are of the same trends; when the spin-coating speed increased, the relative transmittance of the film also
increased but with a decreasing rate.
This trend that the transmittance increased with the faster spin-coating speed could be attributed to the thickness
of the film. With a greater spin-coating speed, the film became thinner [12]-[13], providing more light to be
transmitted and hence greater transmittance. This result could be used to interpret the relation between the film
thickness and its transmittance.

90
Relative transmittance, a.u.

85 1000 rpm
1500 rpm
2000 rpm
2500 rpm
3000 rpm
3500 rpm
4000 rpm
80
400 500 600 700 800

Wavelength, nm

FIGURE 2. Relative transmittance over the visible-to-near-infrared-region of the spin-coated PMMA films at different 2nd-
step spin-coating speeds

90
Relative transmittance, a.u.

88
350 nm
550 nm
750 nm

86

1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000

2nd step spin-coating speed, rpm

FIGURE 3. Relations between the 2nd-step spin-coating speed and the relative transmittance and at three different
wavelengths

020001-3
 Effects of Baking Temperature on the Transmittance
Figure 4 shows the relative transmittance over the visible-to-infrared region of the films with different baking
temperature from 25 qC to 180 qC. At different baking temperatures, the transmittances of samples were
comparatively different where the value at 130 qC was relatively lower than values at other temperatures. This can
be seen more obviously in Figure 5 when the baking temperatures are plotted against the relative transmittance at
three selected wavelength: 350 nm, 550 nm, and 750 nm. At all selected wavelengths, the relative transmittance of
the film baked at 130 qC was roughly 5% lower than others, indicating that at such baking temperature, less light
could transmit through the film. We suppose that this was because the temperature of 130 qC is above the glass

100
Relative transmittance, a.u.

98

96

94
25 °C
80 °C
92 110 °C
130 °C
180 °C
90 250 °C

400 500 600 700 800

Wavelength, nm

FIGURE 4. Relative transmittance over the visible-to-near-infrared-region of the spin-coated PMMA films at different
baking temperatures

100
Relative transmittance, a.u.

98

96 350 nm
550 nm
750 nm
94

92
0 50 100 150 200 250

Baking temperature, °C

FIGURE 5. Relations between the baking temperature and the relative transmittance and at three different wavelengths

020001-4
transition temperature of PMMA at 105 qC. When the sample was baked below this temperature, PMMA was still in
amorphous state, providing more optical transmittance than that of a crystalline film [14]-[15]. Once the sample was
baked at just above the glass temperature, some parts of the material are in the glassy state while some were still
amorphous. When this baked sample was cooled down, the glassy part became crystalline and hence lowering the
overall transmittance of the film.

CONCLUSIONS
PMMA is widely known as a polymer able to be fabricated with a spin-coating method. The transmittance over
the visible-to-infrared region of the film was affected by the spin-coating recipe of the film. For the spin-coating
speed, it was found that the transmittance of the film increased together with the spin-coating speed, but with a
lower rate. The faster the spin-coating speed, the more transparent the film. This is believed to be due to the
thickness of the film which decreased when the spin-coating speed increased, leading to the more tranmittance of the
film.
For the baking temperature of the film after spin-coating, all the films baked at all temperatures, except at 130
qC, provided roughly the same transmittance regardless of the temperature. The film baked at 130 qC provided
roughly 5% lower transmittance than the others. This was suspected to result that such temperature is just above the
glass transition temperature of the material. Thus the film baked at such temperature was a mixture of glassy state
and complete solid state, leading to a lower transmittance.
Results from this study could be used to help adjust the spin-coating condition especially the spin-coating speed
and the baking temperature after spin-coating in order to optimise the required optical transmittance of the film.

REFERENCES
1. L. Zhang, M. Liu, D. Tu, et al., IEEE T. Electron. Dev., 56(3), 370-376 (2009).
2. P.-G. Su, Y.-L. Su and C.-C. Lin, Sensor Actuat. B:Chem., 113(2), 883-886 (2006).
3. L.-P. Sunga, X. Gua, L. D. Hoa, et al., Chinese J. Polym. Sci., 27(1), 59-69 (2009).
4. F. Wang, A. Shimazaki, F. Yang, et al., J. Phys. Chem., 121(3), 1562-1568 (2017).
5. K. Wasapinyokul, W. I. Milne and D. P. Chu, J. Appl. Phys., 105(2), 024509-024509-8 (2009).
6. S. Sathish and B. C. Shekar, Indian J. Pure. Ap. Phy., 52, 64-67 (2014).
7. N. G. Semaltianos, Micro. J., 38, 754-761 (2007).
8. T. Tippo, C. Thanachayanont, P. Muthitamongkol, et al., Thin Solid Films 546, 180-184 (2013).
9. B. C. Shekar, S. Sathish, R. Sengoden, et al., Phys. Proc., 49, 145-157 (2013).
10. R. Kotsilkova, P. Todorov, E. Ivanov, et al., Carbon, 100, 355-366 (2016).
11. A. Aadila, A. N. Afaah, N. A. M. Asib, et al., AIP Conf. Proc., 1733, 020045-020045-5 (2015).
12. P. C. Sukanek, J. Electrochem. Soc., 138(6), 1712-1719 (1991).
13. B. D. Washo, IBM J. Res. Develop., 21(2), 190-198, 1977.
14. R. Prichard, Polym. Eng. Sci., 4(1), 66-71, 1964.
15. A. H. Wilbourn, Polymer, 17, 965-976, 1976.

020001-5