Physical vapor deposition of polymer thin films

Abstract Physical vapor deposition (PVD) methods for polymer thin films were reviewed with an emphasis on those techniques that use energy beams such as UV light, electron beam, and ion beam. One class of PVD is a direct evaporation of polymer materials, which can produce thin films consisting of small molecular weights. Molecularly oriented thin films can be obtained with this method for some types of polymers. The other class called vapor-deposition polymerization, involves a polymerization reaction in the process of film growth. The vapor-deposition polymerization can be achieved either by the stepwise reaction, such as polycondensation or polyaddition of co-evaporated monomers or by the chain reaction through radical polymerization of single monomer species activated by UV light, electron beam, ion beam, etc. Typical examples of film formation and applications are reviewed for each process. Also, mentioned is a strategy to covalently tether the interface between the polymer films and the substrates.