Plasma Enhanced-Chemical Vapor Deposited Polymers: Plasma Phase Reactions, Plasma-Surface Interactions, and Film Properties

The tailoring of the surface energy of a selected substrate in order to meet specific requirements represents an ever-green and extensive field of research and application. The surface energy, and, in general, surface properties, can be affected either directly, that is, by means of a surface treatment, or by the deposition of a thin (from few to several hundred nanometers) layer. In addition to the traditional wet chemistry-based approach (e.g., self-assembled monolayers SAMs and sol-gel), gas phase-based methods are also widely available.They are acknowledged as very efficient (and often cost-effective) methods to modify the surface properties of a substrate toward hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity/oleophobicity, to improve the adhesion or to generate a selected surface chemistry for biomaterial applications.