The purpose of this work was to investigate the influence of a low-pressure, low-frequency ammonia plasma treatment on the wettability of polypropylene (PP) thin films and its consequences on the adhesion properties of such treated films to thermally evaporated aluminium coatings. The wettability was determined by contact angle measurements while the adherence was evaluated by a U-Peel test especially suited to thin flexible substrates with thin metallic layers. Furthermore, an image processing system was used to measure the percentage of the peeled-off metal. Measurements carried out on NH3 plasma-treated PP films revealed a sharp increase in the wettability and in the adhesion properties for treatment times as short as I s. Electron-induced Xray emission spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed the formation of new chemical bonds at Al/NH3 plasma-treated PP film interfaces. The new types of bonds have been characterized by well-defined chemical states (C-NHx, CO-NH, Al-N-C) in the N Is (and C Is) spectra. The interfacial complexes Al-N-C and Al-N-CO are formed by the NH3 plasma treatment which creates at the PP surface active sites (N(C-NHx.) and N(CO-NH)) which react with the evaporated aluminium atoms. These interfacial bonds play an important role in the enhancement of the metal/polymer adhesion. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved.