Chemical Vapor Deposition
Chemical vapor deposition is a nascent, single-step processing method for forming electronic polymer films on unconventional substrates and is increasingly important for creating flexible and wearable electronics. A suite of vapor-phase polymerization reactions performed inside reduced-pressure hot wall reactors, collectively termed CVD, are the enabling methods we use to build novel devices.
CVD can be interpreted as a solvent-free synthetic technique, where multiple reagents converge in the vapor phase to effect a polymerization reaction. In CVD, polymer films are formed directly on the substrate of interest as vapors of a chemical agent and precursor (or monomer) are introduced into an evacuated reactor chamber simultaneously. This method allows for conformal coating of rough surfaces, with features resolvable down to 100-200 nm. The modularity of CVD ensures that careful monomer choice will lead to the in situ film growth of a host of functional polymers displaying varied properties.