Preparation of thin polymer films of predictable chemical functionality using plasma chemistry

John F. Evans, George W. Prohaska

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Plasma-polymerized vinyldimethylethoxysilane (PP VDMES) and plasma-copolymerized styrene-vinyldimethylethoxysilane (PC St-VDMES) thin films were prepared in a tubular reactor capacitively coupled to an r.f. power supply. The surface polymer structure as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was correlated with the controllable discharge parameters of power, pressure and feed gas composition. PP VDMES films show carbon enrichment and concomitant loss of the ethoxy group (via cleavage of the C-O bond) as the power per molecule ratio P/M is increased during the deposition reaction. The rate of deposition of PP VDMES was also found to be a strong function of P/M. The PC St-VDMES surface chemical structure and deposition rate are complicated functions of the feed gas composition (styrene and VDMES). In both systems it is found that the chemical functionalities of the monomers (ethoxy group for VDMES and phenyl ring for styrene) are retained and incorporated into the plasma-deposited films under low P/M discharge conditions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)171-180
Number of pages10
JournalThin Solid Films
Volume118
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 10 1984

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by the Department of Energy through a,grant administered by the Corrosion Center at the University of Minnesota (DE-AC02-79ER10450) and in part by the 3M Company. The authors also wish to thank Dr. Robert L. Batdorf of Bell Telephone Laboratories, Reading, PA, for the generous gift of the silicon substrates used in theses tudies.

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Preparation of thin polymer films of predictable chemical functionality using plasma chemistry'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this