A process of depositing thin organic polymeric coatings on electronic substrates by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has been developed. We have designed halogenated compounds with PECVD reactive functionality attached to optically active moieties. Compounds have been screened selectively to lower the dielectric constant and enhance plasma polymerization efficiency. The chemical, optical, and mechanical properties of the deposited films such as film uniformity, film defectivity, film solubility, resist compatibility, conformality, adhesion to semiconductor substrates, refractive index, optical density, and photolithographic behavior have been studied. Plasma polymerized materials exhibit high sensitivity, excellent resolution, and good process latitude. PECVD provides a completely dry deposition process for wafer coating. The coatings possess high optical density at 193 nm.