(309f) Vapor Deposited Polymers: From Fundamentals to Commercialization

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD), as practiced by the semiconductor industry, typically utilizes high powers and high temperatures to drive non-selective chemistry. These aggressive conditions are incompatible with reactants possessing fragile organic functional groups. However, employing selective chemistry allows deposition rates of CVD organic films to be high, even when energy input is low. The CVD method is ideally suited for insoluble and infusible materials such as fluoropolymers, crosslinked organic networks, and conjugated semiconducting and conducting polymers. To date, a portfolio of >70 CVD homopolymers and copolymers have been demonstrated. The conformal nature of CVD polymerization enables the facile integration of organic thin films into device prototypes onto thermally sensitive and mechanical flexible substrates. Scale up of the process has facilitated the commercialization of CVD polymer technology.