Synthesis and characterization of thin films of poly(3-methyl thiophene) by rf-plasma polymerization

To facilitate synthesis of poly(3-methyl thiophene) thin film by RF-plasma polymerization process, suitable modifications have been done in a RF-sputtering set up. The deposition rate is found to be 3.33 nm/min. The synthesized films are characterized by FTIR, XRD, Ellipsometry, UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy and SEM. From FTIR, the formation of poly(3-methyl thiophene) has been confirmed. It is found that the synthesized polymer is cross-linked. XRD shows the amorphous nature of the prepared polymer film. The optical band gap has been estimated to be 2.14 eV from UV-visible absorption spectrum. Thickness of the polymer films has been measured to be 2000 Å by ellipsometry.