Preparation of Polymer Thin Films of Pentafluorostyrene via Plasma Polymerization

Polymer thin films of pentafluorostyrene (PFS) were prepared by RF plasma (13.56 MHz) polymerization in continuous wave (CW) mode, as a function of plasma power and monomer pressure. Conditions for film preparation were optimized by measuring the solvent resistance of plasma polymer thin films in DMAc, NMP, THF, acetone and chloroform, as well as by evaluating the optical clarity via UV-VIS measurements. Pulsed mode plasma polymerization was also utilized to enhance the optical properties of the films by varying the period of on-time and duty cycle. Finally, the films were subjected to refractive index measurements and analyzed by ${\alpha}$-step, TGA and FT-IR.