Immobilized Microdischarges in Pulsed DBD Plasmas for Localized Deposition and Patterning of Polymer-Like Films

Reference:

Demaude, A., Petitjean, D., Brabant, M., Gordon, M.J. and Reniers, F., 2023. Immobilized Microdischarges in Pulsed DBD Plasmas for Localized Deposition and Patterning of Polymer-Like Films. Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing, pp.1-18.

Abstract:

In this work, direct deposition of patterned thin films using immobilized dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma filaments and pulsed sinusoidal excitation in argon/propargyl methacrylate (PMA) mixtures was investigated. Microdischarge ignition and deposition processes were studied in detail and compared with a continuous excitation scheme. In both cases, µm-thick circular areas (‘spots’, S) are deposited from the filaments and a thinner film (‘between the spots’, BS) is generated in between from the non-filament regions. Pulsed excitation was seen to better stabilize filaments than continuous excitation, resulting in milder deposition conditions and lower deposition rates between the spots. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), contact angle, profilometry, and optical microscopy measurements all show that pulsed excitation leads to better patterning (i.e., higher fidelity patterns with greater morphological contrast between S and BS regions), higher retention of PMA chemical functionalities, and less substrate damage. Moreover, by decreasing the deposition time in pulsed mode, area-selective deposition was achieved.

Authors:

A. Demaude, D. Petitjean, M. Brabant, M. J. Gordon & F. Reniers

Organisation / Department Address:

1. Faculty of Sciences, Chemistry of Surfaces, Interfaces and Nanomaterials (ChemSIN), Université Libre de Bruxelles, Cp 255, Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, 1050, Brussels, Belgium
2. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, EngII #3351, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-5080, USA