TABLE OF CONTENTS Plasma polymers are high-molecular systems produced, as has been already mentioned in Chapter 1, in the consequence of chemical processes proceeding in the region of low-temperature, non-equilibrium plasma. The nature and properties of such materials are closely connected with a thin film form, in which they are generally produced. If a monomer (source precursor) is introduced to the plasma region, a thin film of the plasma polymer begins to arise on all surfaces in this region. By optimizing parameters of the process we can obtain solid, homogeneous thin films without macroscopic defects (such as pinholes, powders, cracks, porosity). Such films are just those which at present awake the great interest of science and high technology. In general, the thickness of the films is between a few nanometers and a few micrometers. Therefore very often the term thin plasmaJilm is used as a synonym of the term plasma polymer.
A large variety of chemical species created in the plasma, their statistical combination towards high molecular structures and generally a high degree of crosslinking cause the structure of such a material to be very often much closer to that of covalent glasses than that of conventional polymers. Thus, the thin plasma films can be treated as a single amorphous macromolecule consisting of the three-dimensional basic molecular network with attached side units such as hydrogen atoms and sometimes also other functional groups.
As an example,...
