Stability of CVD-Produced Polymer Thin Films

This research news is presented to help researchers with their development of CVD‐produced polymer thin films, but could also be utilized for thicker coatings and for liquid‐deposited thin films. This arises from the observation that many CVD researchers deposit polymer thin films, and then use them without any additional insight gained into their stability. The stability of the polymer thin film, however, is paramount for their use, not only at elevated temperatures, but also at room temperature, since even at room temperature polymers can leach out impurities causing, for example, a biological immune response. An important consideration for the use of polymer thin films is their stability at room temperature as well as elevated temperatures. Research news is presented to help polymer researchers characterize this stability. For the news presented here a stable polymer poly(α,α′‐dimethyl‐p‐xylylene) is compared to an un‐stable polymer poly(hydroxyl‐p‐xylylene), which contains a radical trap preventing a high polymer from being deposited.