The stability of C60 and its derivatives upon handling in microsystems technologies

We investigate C₆₀, C₆₀(OH)₂₄, C₆₀(F₃)₁₂, C₆₀Cl₂ and analyse the stability of these derivatives upon processing in sol-gel, spin-coating, spraying, dropping and evaporating procedures to obtain thin films for possible microsystems application. We use X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy (NEXAFS) to analyse the fullerene species within the films. We find fullerene molecules stable in evaporation procedure but not stable in films obtained by using fullerenes dissolved in toluene, chlorobenzene and cyclohexane. Most stable are the evaporated films of pure C₆₀, while the soluble derivatives are less stable. The fluorine derivatives are most stable when processed by spray coating with ethanol as a solvent. Fullerol was dissolved in H₂O and films are obtained by spray coating.