Abstract
Vapor phase deposition of poly(ethylene) is shown to produce uncross-linked thin films consisting of linear CH2 (100) oligomers with narrow molar mass distribution of dispersity D-M - 1.10. Early stages of the film formation are characterized by the growth of two-dimensional compact islands of constant 7-8 nm thickness.
The transversal evolution of islands is studied in the context of the Dynamic Scaling Theory. The aggregation regime is found to be valid in a narrow range of coverage 0.1 < theta < 0.3.
The critical island size is estimated to be i = 1. Kinetic roughening of the growing front gives a set of the scaling exponents alpha(loc) = 0.67, alpha(s) = 0.85, beta = 0.33 (beta = 0.2 for the late stages of growth) and z = 2.2 that does not fit into any of the known universality classes.
Macromolecular relaxation at the island edges is suggested to explain the observed inconsistence.