Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) is a highly sensitive surface-analysis technique, revealing mass spectral data from the top few atom layers of a sample. Kore is proud to be the TOF-SIMS supplier for Innovia Films, a materials science company manufacturing the base film for a wide product range including labels and packaging, as well as the banknotes that make the world go round.
Back in 2006, Innovia Films approached Kore with a requirement to investigate different surface treatments of their highly differentiated biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) films. Kore designed the SurfaceSeer instrument that became the basis for subsequent TOF-SIMS instruments from Kore, and provided Innovia with the required functionality. The instrument was installed at Innovia’s R&D facility and has been in daily use ever since for research and quality assurances. Their unique ‘Bubble Process’ inflates an enormous tube-shaped bubble of film nearly four storeys high, which is then heated, stretched, rolled, and engineered to create the highly intricate printed, texturised, durable banknotes and other plastic products.
Project Manager Vitalija Kendall mainly uses the TOF-SIMS instrument to look for any kind of contamination on the surface. She explains, “Contamination regularly transpires to be polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and presence of some of these compounds can cause material performance issues, such as ink adhesion and printability. These failures can lead to complaints, which can lead to financial loss. The SurfaceSeer S is a workhorse for defending complaints.”
The instrument was custom-designed at Kore to meet Innovia’s required price point. “For homogeneous films such as those we make, a spectrometry-only TOF-SIMS answers 99% of our requirements. The primary source comprises a 5keV Ar+ ion beam focused to ~100um, with 30eV electron charge neutralisation to permit analysis of our insulating films. With sample pump-down times of 1–2 minutes, and data acquisition times of only 2–5 minutes, we can analyse a lot of samples per day. We have other surface techniques in our laboratories but nothing with such surface sensitivity.”
Over the years, Kore and Innovia have worked closely together to keep the instrument running successfully and minimise downtime. This long-standing support is proof of Kore’s enduring care for all of our customers and instruments hard at work around the world. “Kore provides brilliant support regarding applications, performance, issue solving and transferring knowledge,” says Vitalija.