Plasma polymerisation of methylphenylsilane

Microwave electron cyclotron resonance plasma afterglow chemical vapour deposition (MW ECR PA CVD) and radio frequency plasma enhanced CVD (RF PE CVD) of plasma-poly(methylphenylsilane) (p-PMPS) were examined according to plasma composition and resulting thin film properties. Direct mass spectrometry monitoring and gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC MS) of cold-trapped plasma products were used. Deposited samples were measured mainly on luminescence. The low pressure MW ECR plasma creates species for layer growth by a smaller average number of inelastic collisions per origin of monomer molecule. The exploitation of monomer reaches 23% in comparison with RF plasma (5–7%) and the deposition rate is larger (1.5 nm s−1) in comparison with RF plasma (0.2 nm s−1). The inelastic collision rate is primarily more important for growing layers than the power introduced into plasma. The luminescence spectra of both MW and RF samples are compared.