Chemical Vapor Deposition

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a powerful technique for forming solid thin films directly from vapor phase precursors using gas and surface reactions that can be activated by various means, including heat, light, plasma, or a chemical agent. Although CVD can be considered a mature technology in many applications like silicon processing for integrated circuits, technology advances for new materials and applications continue to be found. Particularly for the biomedical industry, examples include the thermal CVD of graphene for cell differentiation or biomolecular translocation and sequencing, hot wire CVD (HWCVD) of nanodiamond for implants and biosensors, atomic layer deposition (ALD) of oxides and nitrides for biocompatibility or to enhance mechanical and barrier properties, and initiated CVD (iCVD) of polymers for a wide range of surface modification and coatings to impart biopassivation, prevent non-specific protein adsorption, or create microsensors. With the broad range of CVD approaches available, successful implementation demands a strong fundamental understanding of the relationships between processing (e.g., pressure, temperature, power, flow, precursor chemistry) on resulting thin film structure and properties.