Initiated chemical vapour deposition (iCVD) of thermally stable poly-glycidyl methacrylale

Thin films of poly-glycidyl methacrylate (PGMA) were grown on different substrates, using initiated chemical vapour deposition (iCVD). The successful fabrication of PGMA was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The behaviour of the films under vacuum annealing conditions was studied and experiments were performed to test the planarization properties of the deposited PGMA. The annealing experiments showed a good stability of the films in terms of bonding structure integrity after 4 h of annealing at 410 degrees C. This means that the material can be used in combination with other CVD deposition processes. Annealing at higher temperatures shows changes in the FTIR spectrum, which indicate altering of the epoxy ring. Experiments on planarization properties showed that the deposition of a layer of 315 +/- 10 nm of PGMA decreases the RMS roughness of a textured substrate from 42.3 to 14.3 nm. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.