Initiated PECVD of Organosilicon Coatings: A New Strategy to Enhance Monomer Structure Retention

A new deposition method, initiated PECVD (iPECVD), is proposed for the formation of organosilicon polymers with enhanced monomer structure retention compared to conventional PECVD. The quasi-selective fragmentation of an initiator is driven by a low power plasma discharge, as opposed to using a hot filament for initiator decomposition as in a standard, plasma-free initiated CVD (iCVD). The weak peroxide bond (O?O) in the initiator permits the formation of radical species at very low plasma power density (0.07?W?.?cm-2). Kinetic analysis of the deposition process indicates that the film formation rate follows the Arrhenius law, similarly to other iCVD process from organosilicon monomers.