Micropatterning using atmospheric pressure plasma processes

Cost-efficient technologies for patterned surface functionalization or coating are of great interest within the glass and plastic industry. In collaboration with partners from industry and academia the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST has developed area-selective ambient pressure plasma treatment processes for patterning surfaces of materials such as silicon, glass or plastic. In the so-called plasma printing process structures with widths down to 20 µm were produced. Different types of equipment have been developed to carry out plasma printing batch processes on silicon or glass and reel-to-reel processes on flexible substrates such as polymer films.