INNOVENT - Technologieentwicklung Jena

Thin film deposition technique – plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition, plasma polymerization

Basics

Plasma polymerization is a chemical vapour deposition method which can be characterized by a chemical reaction of gaseous precursor materials resulting in the growth of thin films on work piece surfaces. This method can be carried out with the assistance of a high-frequency plasma. In this case the energy necessary for the chemical reaction is supplied by high energetic plasma electrons. This results in an only moderate temperature increase of the work pieces. The deposition system itself consists of a vacuum chamber including two planar electrodes, one of those is rf coupled to the power supply. Thus, thin planar substrates up to a diameter of 20cm can be coated without problems.
The deposited functional layers or the plasma treatment itself can lead to new surface properties like high wettability or high hydrophobicity, scratch resistance or a higher adhesiveness.
Alternative PACVD methods at atmospheric pressure are under investigation beside the C-CVD method as well as the material diversity which can be deposited.