Large area deposition of functional plasma polymers on polymer substrates

Abstract

In this work we present a new plasma deposition apparatus developed for the effective plasma polymer deposition on polymeric substrates. It consists of a specially designed plasma reactor with a 60 MHz capacitively coupled electrode and an adapted substrate holder to implement roll-to-roll processes. Using siliconorganic precursors the high deposition rates required for industrial scale deposition on plastic films are achieved. The deposition mechanism is characterized by deposition rate as a function of power and monomer flow. Infrared spectroscopy investigation of the deposited thin films confirm the ability to include functional groups in siliconorganic and pure hydrocarbon plasma polymers in the 60 MHz plasma.PACS : 81.15.Gh

Organic-Inorganic Behavior of Plasma-Polymerized Hexamethyldisiloxane Films Studied by Electron and Photon Induced Ion Desorption

“…Accordingly to the mass spectra comparison we can observe that except for the H + peak, the most intense peak in the HDMSO_1 spectrum is at m /z 15 attributed to CH 3 + species while in HDMSO_2 spectrum this corresponds to m / z 29 attributed to C 2 H 5 + /SiH + species. These results show clearly that the monomer flux and the plasma exposition modes (pulsed and continued) as reported by Schmittgens et al in previous studies can modify the chemical structure of the plasma deposited films. Another support for the organic character of the HDMSO_2 film is the higher contribution of C 2 H n + fragments in its ionic desorption spectrum as compared to HDMSO_1.…”

“…The polymer films studied in this work were prepared using a plasma polymerization procedure described in detail elsewhere . Two samples were synthesized using the experimental parameters presented in Table , which will be referred to hereafter as HDMSO_1 and HDMSO_2.…”

“…In this context, the organosilicon plasma polymers obtained from hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) monomer has received considerable attention due to the ease and safety in handling . There are extensive reports in the literature about the chemistry structure of HMDSO plasma deposited films . Among these studies, several highlight the relation between plasma polymerization conditions (pressure, power, flow rate, current density, operation mode, carrier gases content, etc) and the chemical behavior of the film.…”

“…Among these studies, several highlight the relation between plasma polymerization conditions (pressure, power, flow rate, current density, operation mode, carrier gases content, etc) and the chemical behavior of the film. By varying these process parameters thin films with different chemical composition and structure can be obtained from the monomer . For example, it is known that from radio‐frequency (RF) and microwave plasma experiments plasma‐polymers deposited in a HMDSO‐oxygen plasma can be varied from a soft, siloxane‐like polymer structure to a hard, amorphous silicon oxide film …”

“…In this work, two plasma‐deposited HMDSO films previously synthetized and characterized by conventional techniques (FTIR, electron microscopy, and AFM) have been studied combining the electron (ESID) and photon (PSID) stimulated ion desorption methods. The aim of our investigation is to show the potentiality of the ion desorption techniques for identifying the organic–inorganic character of these two plasma deposited films.…”