Synthesis and characterization of polyimide thin films obtained by thermal evaporation and solid state reaction

In this research polyimide films were prepared by physical vapor deposition (PVD), using solid state reaction of pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) and p-phenylene diamine (PDA) to form poly(amic acid) (PAA) films. The resultant films were converted to polyimide by thermal treatment, usually below 300 °C. For this study, a FT-IR spectrometer has been used to measure the effect of imidization temperature on the chemical structure of the vapor-deposited thin films of aromatic PI. When temperature increased, an increase in all absorption peaks was observed. This suggests that residual PAA monomers continued to be converted into PI. The surface topology of the PI films obtained at imidization temperatures of 150, 200, 250 °C for 1 hour was further examined by using AFM atomic force microscopy. It can be clearly seen that the surface became rougher with increasing imidization temperature. The thermal stability of polyimide was also studied by using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).