ABSTRACT
This curling can be attributed to an internal stress arising in the plasma polymer during polymer deposition. It is important to recognize that the internal stress in the plasma polymer (in the ‘‘as-polymerized’’ state) is an expansive stress and that this is in marked contrast to what would be expected if the adsorbed monomer were polymerized at the surface of the substrate, which would create, with very few exceptions, contractive stress due to the contraction of volume on the polymerization of a monomer.
