A chemometric investigation of the effect of the process parameters during maleic anhydride pulsed plasma polymerization

Plasma polymerization is a good candidate to functionalise solid surfaces. In particular, pulsed plasma polymerization produces polymer thin films with good structural retention of the monomer. The present work consists in a systematic investigation of the influence of parameters during maleic anhydride pulsed plasma polymerization. The following parameters have been considered in the present study: on-time polymerization, off-time polymerization and peak power. After preliminary experiments based on a factorial design, a central composite design was applied to optimise the three factors. Predicted and experimental response as anhydride groups retention, thickness and roughness of plasma polymer thin films were compared. The film chemical structures were obtained using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the film thickness by ellypsometry measurements and the film roughness by AFM analysis.