Influence of Non‐Polymerizable Gases Added During Plasma Polymerization

Summary: In plasma polymerization often additional, non‐polymerizable gases are used, either as carrier gas or as reactive co‐monomer. The gas ratio represents an additional parameter, which complicates the understanding of plasma polymerization processes. Therefore, we thoroughly investigated the deposition rates of different gas mixtures (O2/HMDSO, N2 and NH3/CxHy, as well as inert gas/CxHy) on the basis of a macroscopic approach. Since the mass deposition rates depend on the specific energy W/F, the plasma polymerization regime for the corresponding polymerizable monomer can be identified by introduction of a modified flow F = Fm + a Fc (sum of monomer flow Fm and carrier gas flow Fc with a flow factor a). Any deviations discovered during application of this novel approach indicate additional effects, such as ion‐induced effects. magnified image