Growth of ODPA-APB polyimide films using molecular beam deposition, and their characterization

We report the first growth of polyimide ODPA-APB films by the molecular beam deposition (MBD) technique and characterize these films using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. MBD is a dry, ultra-high vacuum technique based on the co-deposition of monomers from two different sources, followed by a thermally induced polycondensation reaction to form polyimide. This technique is an alternative to standard wet processing techniques involving the use of solvents. As-deposited films consist largely of low-molecular-weight species. Heat-treated films are chemically indistinguishable from thermally cured, spin-coated films. Different heat treatment conditions are compared.