New Tool for Scalable Thin Film Organic Polymer Deposition on Flexible Substrates using a Solvent-Free, Gas Phase, Spatial Molecular Layer Deposition Approach

摘要

There are inherent limitations to present-day organic polymer deposition techniques. Current technologies struggle to produce the nanoengineered thin films desired by industry. Thinner, more-conformal organic films/coatings are required for a multitude of industrial applications ranging from sensors to membranes to semiconductor processing. In response to these problems, a new deposition tool has been developed that is capable of coating flexible substrates with organic polymer films at speeds of up to 3 m/s. This tool uses gas phase monomers to deposit organic polymers with molecular layer control. The deposition of a polyamide network polymer on a metalized poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrate using a trifunctional chloro-acid monomer (trimesoylchloride) and a bi-functional amine monomer (m-phenylenediamine) has been successfully demonstrated. Also, this polyamide film on flexible porous supports is being used to reduce the cost and energy consumption of desalination by reverse osmosis. The tool overcomes previous, monomer-based limitations where low monomer vapor pressures and low decomposition temperatures rendered molecular layer deposition (MLD) deposition impossible with previous deposition tools. The tool can be used to deposit a wide range of organic polymers for a broad range of applications at scale.