Deposition of Barrier Coatings from Vinyltrimethylsilane-Fed Glow Discharges

Radio-frequency glow discharges fed with vinyltrimethylsilane have been studied for the deposition of barrier coatings onto polymer substrates as single or multiple layers. The deposition process has been investigated considering both the chemistry of the coatings and the spectroscopic analysis of the gas phase. It has been shown that RF power and oxygen addition allow one to switch from organosilane films to silica-like inorganic, dense, barrier films. A deposition mechanism is suggested for the interpretation of the deposition kinetics. Furthermore, it has been shown that vinyltrimethylsilane can be conveniently exploited as single monomer for the deposition of organic/inorganic multistacks with high barrier performances.