Morphology of Poly-p-Xylylene Crystallized during Polymerization

The morphology of as-polymerized poly-p-xylylene grown between −17 and 30 °C is found to consist of lamellar α crystals oriented with the (010) plane parallel to the support surface. The crystallinity decreases with decreasing polymerization temperature. Spherulitic and nonspherulitic portions of the polymer film consist of folded chain lamellas (∼80 Å fold length) with the chain axis parallel to the support surface. The results were obtained by small- and wide-angle x-ray measurements, electron and optical microscopy, and differential thermal analysis.