Surface morphology of nanostructured plasma-polymer thin films deposited under dusty plasma conditions

Abstract

Plasma-polymer thin films were prepared under dusty plasma conditions. Due to their nanocomposite structure, the films showed unique mechanical properties including high elastic recovery resulting in a behaviour similar to superelasticity. The work is mainly focused on the characterization of the films by means of analytical scanning electron microscopy. We observed that variation of the deposition conditions caused substantial changes of surface topography of the deposited films. Consequently, the surface free energy varied in a wide range so it was possible to prepare films with either hydrophilic or hydrophobic properties.