Vapor Deposition

A method for applying a polymeric resist coating of very high molecular weight to a suitable substrate without the necessity of elaborate purification steps and for ensuring adequate coverage of raised regions in three-dimensionally patterned substrates. The method comprises exposing the substrate to be coated to the vapor of an anionically polymerizable monomer of the formula: CHR=CXY where X and Y are strong electron withdrawing groups R si H or, provided that X and Y are both -CN,C1-C4 alkyl for sufficient time to deposit a polymerizable coating thereon.

Here we report the preparation of mechanically robust silica aerogel polymer nanocomposites using surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. This approach was used to grow poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) with low polydispersities and establish the first structure–property relationship between the grafted PMMA molecular weight and bulk physical properties of the hybrid aerogel.

Strong polymer−silica aerogel composites were prepared by chemical vapor deposition of cyanoacrylate monomers onto amine-modified aerogels. Amine-modified silica aerogels were prepared by copolymerizing small amounts of (aminopropyl)triethoxysilane with tetraethoxysilane. After silation of the aminated gels with hexamethyldisilazane, they were dried as aerogels using supercritical carbon dioxide processing.