HWCVD of polymers: Commercialization and scale-up

25th Anniversary Article: CVD Polymers: A New Paradigm for Surface Modifi cation and Device Fabrication

“…Unlike iCVD, the initiator is not involved in the process and the monomer is the species that is thermally decomposed. HWCVD has been used to create high quality fluorocarbon and organosilicon films and has attracted significant attention due to the scalability of the process 131, 177. The monomer, which has been used to create PTFE films, is the hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO).…”

“…The industrial viability of iCVD PTFE has been demonstrated by Pryce Lewis et al177 Computer control of the reactant flow rates, the temperatures of various parts of the system, pressure, and the safety interlocks, reduces the training and knowledge required by the operator of a commercial iCVD reactor system ( Figure ) and improves the reproducibility of the process. The same reactor designs provide a unified platform for the growth of any iCVD functional polymer or copolymer.…”

Simple method for the quantitative analysis of thin copolymer films on substrates by infrared spectroscopy using direct calibration

“…Thin polymer coatings, below 1 μm, are an attractive technology for physical and chemical modification of a wide variety of different surfaces, being employed in both industrial but also research-based applications. Such coatings ensure biocompatibility for implants or medical instruments,1 are applied to devices as protective coatings against thermal,2 chemical3,4 or physical influences5 but are also utilized in large-scale applications such as the fabrication of vehicle tires, where they are used as mould release agents 6. That polymeric coatings can be used in such a plethora of different applications stems largely from the wide range of chemistries accessible within this class of materials, which can be further tuned by the inclusion of inorganic materials such as nanoparticles 7.…”

Tunable polytetrafluoroethylene electret films with extraordinary charge stability synthesized by initiated chemical vapor deposition for organic electronics applications

“…This technique is known to preserve the original polymer functionality and to maintain a low substrate temperature, due to its mild deposition conditions 19,20 , allowing thus the deposition on flexible organic susbtrates. The iCVD process is already well established for PTFE thin film deposition 21–23 . The technique does not involve any organic solvents, because the thin film is directly polymerized by a free radical polymerization on a substrate, which is cooled to room temperature.…”

“…Rates of several µm h −1 are reported for iCVD PTFE 21,23 , so that the demanded film thickness of typically 10 µm for stable polymer electrets is easily obtained in this way. The CVD-typical conformal growth enables furthermore smooth film surfaces and easy scale-up of the process to larger dimension substrates, making it interesting for industrial applications 19,23 . The PTFE thin film electrets in this study were fabricated in a custom-made, hot filament, radial-flow-type reactor with ring-inlet, as illustrated in Fig.…”