Vapor-Phase Fabrication of Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Polymer Films Using Alkyl Metal and Bifunctional Monomers

Abstract

Inorganic films can be deposited with sequential dosing of multifunctional precursors and self-limiting surface chemistry process known as atomic layer deposition (ALD). Organic film can also be grown by similar method, named molecular layer deposition (MLD). Instead of multifunctional precursors in ALD, bifunctional monomers are used in MLD. These two film deposition method share good properties for high quality multicomponent superlattices such as precise control of film thickness, highly conformal layering, large-scale uniformity, sharp interfaces, etc. By combining ALD and MLD, organic-inorganic hybrid polymer films can be fabricated in vacuum condition. New class of organic-inorganic hybrid polymer films grown by sequential surface reaction of inorganic precursors and bifunctional organic monomers overcome the weakness of organic polymer films grown by bifunctional monomers only, thermal unstability. Moreover, these new hybrid films are expected to have combined properties of organic and inorganic materials and to improve the performance or to lead new useful properties