Parylene - History

History

Parylene development started in 1947, when Michael Szwarc discovered the polymer as one of the thermal decomposition products of a common solvent p-xylene at a temperatures exceeding 1000 °C. Szwarc first postulated the monomer to be para-xylylene, which he confirmed by reacting the vapors with iodine and observing the para-xylylene di-iodide as the only product. The reaction yield was only a few percent, and a more efficient route was found later by William F. Gorham at Union Carbide. He deposited parylene films by the thermal decomposition of paracyclophane at temperatures exceeding 550 °C and in vacuum below 1 Torr. This process did not require a solvent and resulted in chemically resistant films free from pinholes. Since the coating process takes place at ambient temperature in a mild vacuum, and because of parylene’s conformal properties, it has a wide variety of applications. Union Carbide commercialized a parylene coating system in 1965. Union Carbide went on to undertake research into the synthesis of numerous parylene precursors, including parylene AF-4, throughout the 1960s into the early 1970s. Union Carbide purchased NovaTran (a parylene coater) in 1984 and combined it with other electronic chemical coating businesses to form the Specialty Coating Systems division. The division was sold to Cookson Electronics in 1994.