Sputter Deposition of PTFE, PVDF. and FEP

The vacuum chambers were pumped down by means of an oil diffusion pump backed by a rotary vane vacuum pump. The base pressure achieved was 1 x 10 Torr (1.33 x 10 Pa). High-purity argon gas was bled into the chamber, the high-vacuum valve throttled, and the chamber pressure maintained as close as possible to 2 X 10 Torr (2.66Pa). For some of the experiments, the dc self-bias on the magnetron electrode was also measured. 

Material RF power density W/cm) Work table Substrate Rate of deposition (nni/h) 

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Over the last decade, selected papers1114 have examined the deposition of fluoropolymers, using RF magnetron sputtering. All of these papers have examined the deposition of PTFE, with some of them2314 also studying the deposition of polyimide (PI) films. This chapter extends these studies and will report on the sputter deposition behavior of PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene), PVDF (polyvinylidenefluoride), and FEP (fluorinated ethylene propylene copolymer) films. 

The sputter deposition of PVDF and FEP films has not been widely reported in the open literature. In this work, both materials have been studied with films deposited in the thickness range 30 nm to 4 pm. The processing conditions that have been used are summarized in Table 19.1. Generally the films that were formed were adherent, although more prone to degradation during deposition than the PTFE films. 

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