Silicon-containing poly(amide-ether)s

New aromatic poly(amide-ether)s (II) have been synthesized by solution polycondensation of various aromatic diamines having two ether bridges (I) with a diacid chloride containing silicon, namely bis(chlorocarbonylphenyl)-diphenylsilane. These polymers ave easy soluble in polar amidic solvents such as N-methylpyrrolidinone or dimethylformamide and can be cast into thin flexible films or coatings from such solutions. They show high thermal stability with initial decomposition temperature being above 400 degrees C. Their glass transition temperatures lie in the range of 220-250 degrees C, except for polymer IIe which did not show a clear T-g when heated in a differential scanning calorimetry experiment up to 300 degrees C. The large interval between the glass transition and decomposition temperatures of polymers Ia-Id could be advantageous for their processing via compression molding. The polymer coatings deposited by the spin-coating technique onto silicon wafers showed a very smooth, pinhole-free surface in atomic force microscopy investigafiolzs. The free-standing films Of 20-30 mu m thickness show low dielectric constant, in the range of 3.65-3.78, which is promising for future application as high performance dielectrics. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.