Deposition and in-situ Plasma Doping of Plasma-Polymerized Thiophene Films Using PECVD

Highly transparent, thin polythiophene (PT) films were successfully synthesized by the plasma polymerization of thiophene. These films were doped with $O_2$ plasma by in-situ doping technique. The plasma polymerized PT films were deposited at about 50 to 340 nm/min, depending on the temperature and plasma power. A resultant transparency as high as 85% was achieved. The plasma polymerized PT films exhibited the characteristics of an insulator or semiconductor ($10^{10{\sim}12}{\Omega}/{\Box}$, $10^{-7}S/cm$). The conductivity was immediately increased up to $10{\Omega}/{\Box}$ and $10^{-2}S/cm$, when doped with $O_2$ plasma. The plasma-doped PT films exhibited an increased surface roughness resulting in a decreased contact angle. However, the thickness of the PT layer was partially decomposed and/or etched with increasing voltage above 40 W.