Initiated chemical vapor deposition of poly(Hydroxypropyl methacrylate) thin films

Abstract

Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) was used to deposit poly(hydroxypropyl methacrylate) (PHPMA) thin films from a reactive mixture of hydroxypropyl methacrylate and tert-butyl peroxide (TBPO) vapors. During iCVD, TBPO served as initiator, which allowed fast depositions on cooled substrate surfaces at low filament temperatures. In the presence of initiator, deposition rates up to 83.3 nm/min, were observed. In the studies performed at different substrate temperatures, a direct relation between the deposition rate and the substrate temperature was observed which indicated a surface-kinetics limited regime. Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses showed high structural retention of iCVD PHPMA.