Initiated Chemical Vapor Deposition: A Versatile Tool for Various Device Applications

Abstract

Advances in device technology have been accompanied by the development of new types of materials and device fabrication methods. Considering device design, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) inspires innovation as a platform technology that extends the application range of a material or device. iCVD serves as a versatile tool for surface modification using functional thin film. The building of polymeric thin films from vapor phase monomers is highly desirable for the surface modification of thermally sensitive substrates. The precise control of thin film thicknesses can be achieved using iCVD, creating a conformal coating on nano-, and microstructured substrates such as membranes and microfluidics. iCVD allows for the deposition of polymer thin films of high chemical functionality, and thus, substrate surfaces can be functionalized directly from the iCVD polymer film or can selectively gain functionality through chemical reactions between functional groups on the substrate and other reactive molecules. These beneficial aspects of iCVD can spur breakthroughs in device fabrication based on the deposition of robust and functional polymer thin films. This review describes significant implications of and recent progress made in iCVD-based technologies in three fields: electronic devices, surface engineering, and biomedical applications.

One-step vapor-phase synthesis of transparent high refractive index sulfur-containing polymers

“…S5). The observation is attributed to decreasing adsorption of sulfur and monomers to the substrate with increasing T s (35)(36)(37). Furthermore, higher T s would lead to increase in S─S bond dissociation, leading to a greater density of sulfur radicals within the deposited film.…”

Thermal Approaches to Perpendicular Block Copolymer Microdomains in Thin Films: A Review and Appraisal

“…In this light, initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is a very promising technique. iCVD is a solvent‐less deposition technique that induces radical or ionic polymerization of deposited monomers on a sample surface, thereby growing polymer chains with retained pendant group functionality on a substrate surface . For example, Chan et al .…”

One-step vapor deposition of fluorinated polycationic coating to fabricate antifouling and anti-infective textile against drug-resistant bacteria and viruses

“…The solvent treatment may not fit solvent-sensitive substrates and possibly induce the harmful impurities. Initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) is a dry coating technology based on gas-to-surface reaction, and able to avoid the complicated multi-step processes and bypass the use of any solvent [31] , [32] . Compared with other coating techniques such as electrospinning [33] , [34] , iCVD is more advantageous for cases that need delicate modification of nanometer-sized pores and require uniform conformal coatings in complex geometries such as porous textiles [35] and electronic devices [36] .…”