Advantages of plasma treatment over alternative methods?
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surface treatment, thin film deposition and etch, material synthesis,
waste treatment, and machining.
In advanced integrated circuit (IC) packaging applications, and
optoelectronic applications plasma processing plays an important role
in providing improved reliability and yield of these fine geometry
packages.
Advantages of plasma treatment include:
* Environmentally Friendly - Minimal to no harmful byproducts
created during processing.
* Non-Hazardous - There is no exposure to toxic chemicals
* Provides three dimensional treatment capability
* Controllable
* Low Cost of Ownership
Alternatives to plasma treatment include wet chemical treatments,
Corona, UV treatment, and flame treatment.
Wet chemical treatments
Can be hazardous and volatile.
They usually require expensive equipment to prevent the vapors from
polluting the air.
Further, all wet chemicals must be disposed of properly after use,
creating a high operational cost factor.
Corona and UV
Basically primitive plasma treatments using air as the process gas.
The treatment is done at atmospheric pressure by passing an electrode
over the material to be treated.
Although it is inexpensive, the treatment is non-uniform (the plasma
forms tendrils like lightning).
In this form, Corona and UV can cause physical and ESD damage.
This form of treatment is a line of sight process and only effective
for treating flat surfaces because the electrode must be kept at an
equal distance from the material surface at all times.
There is also a high potential for damaging some areas of the material
due to the non-uniformity of the treatment, especially with sensitive
or thin materials.
Flame treatment
Also be viewed as a type of plasma processing since fire is a form of
plasma.
In this type of treatment, a flame is passed over the material to be
treated, which can both roughen and chemically alter the surface.
This crude method of treating material can result in heat damage and
non-uniform treatment.