LCVD luminous chemical vapor deposition mechanism

The terms luminous chemical vapor deposition and plasma polymerization are used synonymously in this book. Dealing with mechanism of reactions that lead to formation of solid deposition, PP is used according to the traditional use of the term. When dealing with the formation of reactive species and other operation and processing aspects, LCVD is preferentially used. 

The photon-emitting species are vitally important in luminous chemical vapor deposition (LCVD) process, and the location of the luminous gas phase indicates where actions occur within the interelectrode space. On the other hand, whether any particular photon-emitting species is primarily responsible for LCVD is a dilferent issue. As is described in Chapter 5 for the growth and deposition mechanisms, many chemically reactive species, such as various forms of free radicals that do not emit photons, are major reactive species that carry the growth reactions. No single species could be identified as the precursor or chemically reactive species for the process. 

In luminous chemical vapor deposition (LCVD), irradiation with photons at various energy levels and the deposition of materials that contain free radicals occur concurrently. The balance of these processes is closely related to the chemical structure of the monomer and its characteristic behavior in the luminous gas phase. The investigation of this balance by ESR provides valuable information pertinent to the growth and the deposition mechanisms in LCVD. The details of this aspect are described in Chapter 7, which deals the chemical structure of the monomer (starting material for LCVD). 

Because of the unique growth mechanism of material formation, the monomer for plasma polymerization (luminous chemical vapor deposition, LCVD) does not require specific chemical structure. The monomer for the free radical chain growth polymerization, e.g., vinyl polymerization, requires an olefinic double bond or a triple bond. For instance, styrene is a monomer but ethylbenzene is not. In LCVD, both styrene and ethylbenzene polymerize, and their deposition rates are by and large the same. Table 7.1 shows the comparison of deposition rate of vinyl compounds and corresponding saturated vinyl compounds. 

---