Representation of the two most significant deposition regimes of PEM films (the adsorption-desorption regime [38] is not represented here because it leads to almost no film deposition). Note that the only difference between the two growth curves is the nature of the polyanion: the strong polyelectrolyte PSS (left column) being replaced by the weak PGA (right column). A representation of the chain packing in each kind of film is represented below the growth curves, the polycations and polyanions being represented in red and blue, respectively. The deposition of the (PAH-PSS)_n and (PAH-PGA)_n films has been investigated by means of optical waveguide lightmode spectroscopy and quartz crystal microbalance, respectively [49].