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Improved homogeneity of plasma and coating properties using a lance matrix gas distribution in MW-PECVD

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Abstract

Plasma reactors for the application of silicon oxide coatings (SiOx) are often customized to optimize the processes regarding substrate properties and targeted functionalities. The design of these reactors is often based on qualitative considerations. This paper evaluates the use of a numerical, free simulation software for continuous mechanical problems (OpenFOAM) as a tool to evaluate reactor design options. As demonstrator for this purpose serves a given reactor for large-area pulsed microwave plasmas with a precursor inlet in the form of a shower ring. Previous results indicate that the shower ring may lead to an inhomogeneity in plasma and coatings properties along the substrate surface. Thus, a new precursor inlet design shall be developed. For this, the distribution of the process gases in the reactor for a variety of gas inlet designs and gas flows was simulated and a design chosen based on the results. The reactor was modified accordingly, and the simulations correlated with experimental results of plasma and coating properties. The results show that, despite many simplifications, a simulation of the neutral gas distribution using an open-access software can be a viable tool to support reactor and process design development.

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Acknowledgment

This research has been funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center SFB-TR 87. We would like to express our thanks to the DFG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV), RWTH Aachen University, Seffenter Weg 201, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Dennis Kirchheim, Stefan Wilski, Montgomery Jaritz, Christian Hopmann & Rainer Dahlmann

  2. Electrical Engineering and Plasma Technology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Felix Mitschker, Moritz Oberberg & Peter Awakowicz

  3. Institute for Theoretical Electrical Engineering, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Jan Trieschmann & Ralf Peter Brinkmann

  4. Electrodynamics and Physical Electronics Group, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus - Senftenberg, Siemens-Halske-Ring 14, 03046, Cottbus, Germany

    Jan Trieschmann & Thomas Mussenbrock

  5. Materials of Microtechnology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Lars Banko, Dario Grochla & Alfred Ludwig

  6. Institute for Experimental Physics II, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitätsstraße 150, 44780, Bochum, Germany

    Markus Brochhagen, Marc Böke & Jan Benedikt

  7. Technical and Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Paderborn, Warburger Str. 100, 33098, Paderborn, Germany

    Rabea Schreckenberg, Teresa de los Arcos & Guido Grundmeier

Authors
  1. Dennis Kirchheim
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  2. Stefan Wilski
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  3. Montgomery Jaritz
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  4. Felix Mitschker
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  5. Moritz Oberberg
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  6. Jan Trieschmann
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  7. Lars Banko
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  8. Markus Brochhagen
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  9. Rabea Schreckenberg
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  10. Christian Hopmann
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  11. Marc Böke
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  12. Jan Benedikt
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  13. Teresa de los Arcos
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  14. Guido Grundmeier
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  15. Dario Grochla
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  16. Alfred Ludwig
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  17. Thomas Mussenbrock
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  18. Ralf Peter Brinkmann
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  19. Peter Awakowicz
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  20. Rainer Dahlmann
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Correspondence to Dennis Kirchheim.

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Kirchheim, D., Wilski, S., Jaritz, M. et al. Improved homogeneity of plasma and coating properties using a lance matrix gas distribution in MW-PECVD. J Coat Technol Res 16, 573–583 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-018-0138-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11998-018-0138-4

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