Determination of the Shear Modulus of Thin Polymer Films with a Quartz Crystal Microbalance: Application to UV-Curing

The photoinduced curing of a light-sensitive varnish was followed, based on a change of the film’s shear modulus, G, as determined with a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The film thickness was in the range of a few hundred nanometers. Both the storage modulus, G′, and the loss modulus, G″, were obtained. The analysis is based on a perturbation calculation. The equations differ from the more commonly used set of equations derived from the small-load approximation and the acoustic multilayer formalism (sometimes termed Voigt-model). The discussion revisits assumptions, accuracy, and limits of the technique. Critical to the analysis is a knowledge of the thickness of the electrode underneath the film.