Cost structure and resource efficiency of plasma processes

Total cost-of-ownership, operation costs, and resource efficiency of low-pressure plasma systems and processes must be taken into consideration if new processes for surface treatment are to be introduced. All three aspects will determine the costs of any value increase per component subjected to a plasma process, and they will be the focus of this article. At first glance, coating costs using plasma processes seem to be dominated by high initial investments. However, the following discussion will show that operating costs are at least of the same importance. With the examples of solar cells, hard coatings, organic film deposition, and simple surface activation, it will be illustrated how the different factors above dominate final production cost.