Detection of deposition rate of plasma-polymerized silicon-containing films by quartz crystal microbalance

The deposition rates of plasma-polymerized (pp-) films of vinyltriethoxysilane, vinyltrimethysilane, tetravinylsilane, diallyldimethylsilane, allyltrimethylsilane, 1,3-divinyltetramethyldisiloxane and 1,1,3,3-tetramethyl-1,3-divinyldisilazane were determined by the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique. Using the same polymerization conditions (100 W RF and 100 Pa vapor pressure) for the various monomers, it was found that the deposition rates were proportional to the polymerization time. The average deposition rate of pp-vinyltrimethylsilane was 2.44 mug/min. The average deposition rate of pp-1,3-divinyltetramethyldisiloxane was five-fold higher and that of pp-tetravinylsilane was 13.5-fold higher than that of pp-vinyltrimethylsilane. The average deposition rate of pp-allyltrimethylsilane was 3.43 mug/min. The average deposition rate of pp-diallyldimethylsilane was 0.8-fold higher. The average deposition rate depended on the chemical structure of the monomer, giving rise to different mechanisms of polymerization. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.