Solvothermal vapor annealing setup for thin film treatment: A compact design with <i>in situ</i> solvent vapor concentration probe

A compact setup for in situ solvothermal vapor annealing of thin polymer films the temperature range from room to 70 °C is presented. The design optimized avoid solvent condensation tubes and other components. consists a chamber, gas delivery system, commercial film-thickness measuring device, concentration sensor. chamber equipped with heaters thermometers thermally insulated. It has windows allow penetration xrays together sample table distributer ensure homogeneous swelling film. computer-controlled system two different components, which can be used separately or parallel (for mixed annealing): (a) mass flow controllers bubbler (b) “controlled evaporation mixing” system. film-swelling ratio determined using optical reflectometry, exhaust continuously monitored by UV-absorption. Test results are presented where ∼100 nm thick polystyrene polyisoprene homopolymer toluene acetone, respectively.