ABSTRACT
pathlength, which is equivalent of the polymer with a degree of polymerization of 1000. This situation is further complicated by the fact that the formation of free radicals and the recombination of free radicals are not kinetically coupled, which yield numerous dangling bonds (unreacted free radicals trapped in the threedimensional network) in the plasma polymer. The presence of dangling bonds in nearly all cases is the strong evidence that free radicals are reactive species in plasma polymerization. The details of dangling bonds are described in Chapter 6.
