Deposition, structure, and properties of plasma polymer metal composite films

Abstract

The preparation of plasma polymer thin films containing small metal or semiconductor particles deposited by simultaneous plasma polymerization and metal evaporation is given. Solid-state analytical methods show that metal or semiconductor clusters are encapsulated inside the polymer matrix as microcrystallites or as amorphous materials. The amount and the size distribution of clusters show strong correlation to the electrical and optical properties. These properties can be drastically changed by annealing processes due to coalescence of neighbored cluster configurations. Interesting results, yielded by experiments of suppressed coalescence and of structural changes, are applicable to information storage, e.g., for holographic recording.