Preparation and characterization of plasma‐polymerized styrene thin films

Plasma‐polymerized styrene (PPS) thin films (several hundred to several thousand Å thick) have been prepared under a variety of discharge conditions in a tubular reactor inductively coupled to a radio frequency (13.56 MHz) power supply. Studies have focussed on the correlation of deposited polymer structure, evidenced both at the film surface (via XPS analysis) and in the bulk polymer (via transmission FT–IR analysis) with controllable plasma parameters (coupled rf power, monomer flow rate, monomer pressure). It has been determined that the relative number of phenyl rings incorporated into the film intact is an inverse function of the power per styrene molecule ratio. Polymer deposition rate was found to be a strong function of styrene flow rate and substrate temperature. Plausible elements of the styrene plasma polymerization mechanism will be considered.