[Investigation of phase morphology of PS/PMMA blend thin film by surface enhanced raman scattering]

Polystyrene/poly (methyl methacrylate) (PS/PMMA) was studied after the thin films were prepared on glass substrate by spin-coating from THF. Raman spectroscopy combined with microscopy was used to obtain information on the morphology and structure of the thin films. From the relative intensities of the peaks around 1 604 and 1 585 cm(-1) due to stretching of benzene rings, and 1 728 cm(-1) due to stretching of C=O for PS and PMMA respectively, the authors could define the composition of the domains in the sea-island-like phase-separated structure in the microscopic image. Furthermore, the structure evolution was followed by Raman spectroscopy during the in-situ annealing of PS/PMMA (30/70) blend thin films at 210 degrees C. And the effect of SERS on the PS thin films was also discussed.