Plasma deposition technique, surface

The ordered P AA back-side and structured Al surface were used to produce self-organized metal nanoparticles. We used Au or amorphous carbon as add-layer for deposition of Ti or Fe nanostmctures. Both these metals have a weak wetting of the add-layer. The deposition was performed by a laser induced plasma deposition technique. In this process the energy of ions was about 20 eV. The highly ordered curved substrate surface defined position of the deposited clusters providing formation of highly ordered arrays of metal nanoclusters. A perspective application of such structures for terabit memory was demonstrated. For example, Ti nanoclusters covered by native oxide demonstrated irreversible transformation of I-V characteristics from barrier-like to the ohmic behavior after the action of current supplied by a tip of conductive AFM. 

Operating at ambient pressure allows industry to move from batch to continuous processing and also facilitates much simpler equipment designs with reduced maintenance requirements due to the lack of vacuum pumps, seals, etc. Besides activation and functionalization of surfaces, the APP technology also involves different coating processes. Recent advances in this technology have included the development of aerosol-assisted plasma deposition techniques. A schematic view of an aerosol-assisted DBD treatment of foils is shown in Fig. 20.30. 

Another issue, which is only briefly mentioned in this Chapter, is the use of cold plasma for surface modification of conventional materials. We can thus improve the properties of "conventional" elements relevant to the construction of electrochemical cells electrode substrates, electrodes themselves, separators, etc. Research interest in this field of the cold plasma technology is comparable to that which is focused on entirely new materials produced by plasma deposition techniques. The use of the plasma treatment technique in... 

Various plasma diagnostic techniques have been used to study the SiH discharges and results have helped in the understanding of the growth kinetics. These processes can be categorized as r-f discharge electron kinetics, plasma chemistry including transport, and surface deposition kinetics. 

Plasma CVD Plasma chemical vapor deposition. Technique for synthesizing materials in which chemical components in vapor phase excited by plasma react to form a solid film at some surface. 

Abstract Plasma polymerization is a technique for modifying the surface characteristics of fillers and curatives for rubber from essentially polar to nonpolar. Acetylene, thiophene, and pyrrole are employed to modify silica and carbon black reinforcing fillers. Silica is easy to modify because its surface contains siloxane and silanol species. On carbon black, only a limited amount of plasma deposition takes place, due to its nonreactive nature. Oxidized gas blacks, with larger oxygen functionality, and particularly carbon black left over from fullerene production, show substantial plasma deposition. Also, carbon/silica dual-phase fillers react well because the silica content is reactive. Elemental sulfur, the well-known vulcanization agent for rubbers, can also be modified reasonably well. 

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used for elemental analysis of plasma-deposited polymer films. The photoelectron spectrometer (Physical Electronics, Model 548) was used with an X-ray source of Mg Ka (1253.6 eV). Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of plasma polymers deposited on the steel substrate were recorded on a Perkin-Elmer Model 1750 spectrophotometer using the attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique. The silane plasma-deposited steel sample was cut to match precisely the surface of the reflection element, which was a high refractive index KRS-5 crystal. 

Although CVD and plasma deposited films offer excellent properties as a passivation layer, the inability to reproduce chemical and physical properties has been a problem. Depending on gas flow rates and deposition conditions, free Si, H, C and 0 may be Incorporated into the films. Characterization of these films has been restricted almost exclusively to surface analytical techniques and ellipsometry. AES and XPS have been used to determine the C, N, 0, and Si content of CVD silicon nitride. 

With the continuous increase in the demand for smaller and smaller systems, film preparation emerges as a very promising route towards MEMS applications [139]. Plasma spraying is a high rate deposition technique (several p/min) suited to the fabrication of thick films over large surface area... 

A promising alternative is surface textured doped zinc oxide films. ZnO films can offer excellent transparency and are highly resistant to hydrogen plasmas [78]. Textured ZnO films have been prepared by several deposition techniques. Examples are boron doped zinc oxide (ZnO B) prepared by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) ([79,80], see also Chap. 6) or ZnO films deposited by expanding thermal plasma CVD [81], Quite recently, ZnO films for back contacts of solar modules have been developed using chemical bath deposition [82]. 

The superior corrosion performance and strong adhesion of the plasma coating system can be attributed to the coating properties and, more importantly, to the nature of interfacial chemistry. Two techniques were applied to study the surface and interfacial chemistry of the plasma coating system (1) in situ plasma deposition and XPS analysis and (2) in-depth profiling of sputtered neutral mass spectroscopy (SNMS). 

The ta-C and a-C films are produced experimentally using a variety of PVD methods such as sputtering, laser ablation and filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technique among which the FCVA technique attracts more attention due to high ionization yield which leads to easy control on plasma properties, high surface quality and high deposition rate which promotes this technique for different industrial applications [1]. 

During the past few years the microhardness technique has frequently been applied to the characterization of super-hard-surfaced polymers obtained by ion implantation and to plasma-deposited hard amorphous carbon films (Balta Calleja Fakirov, 1997). These products represent an entirely new class of materials that are lightweight and have the flexibility of polymers combined with a surface microhardness and wear resistance greater than those of metallic alloys (Lee et al., 1996). 

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