APPARATUS FOR FORMING POLYMER FILM BY PLASMA POLYMERIZATION

PURPOSE:To make it possible to form a polymer film uniformly on the surface of a substrate, by generating polymerization-initiating species by partially exciting a gaseous monomer in a plasma generated by glow discharge and moving the monomer and the polymerization-initiating species toward the substrate. CONSTITUTION:A discharging gas is introduced from an inlet 5 to the upper part of a discharge vessel 3, a high-frequency voltage is impressed between electrodes 6a and 6b, the discharge vessel 3 is maintained at a suitable vacuum and a uniform glow discharge is thus generated. A first monomer is introduced from an inlet 9 to the discharge vessel 3, and partially excited to generate polymerization-initiating species. Then, the first monomer and the polymerization-initiating species enter a polymerization vessel through a long hole 2. At the upper part of the polymerization vessel 1, a second monomer is introduced from an inlet 11. In the polymerization vessel 1, a substrate 12 is reciprocatably mounted on a support base 13, and the vessel is evacuated through an exhaustion duct 14. A uniform polymer film is formed on the substrate 12 by maintaining the polymerization vessel 1 at such a vacuum as to direct a uniform stream of the monomer and the initiating species toward the surface of the substrate 12.