Invited Paper PS+TF-WeA1
Plasma Prize Talk: Plasma Processing of Materials: What makes Plasma Special and Future Outlook?
Wednesday, October 21, 2015, 2:20 pm, Room 210A
Plasma processing of materials is at the heart of present day technologies such as found in the manufacturing of IC’s, liquid crystal displays and large scale production of solar cells, to name only a few. For a basic understanding of the key processes determining the processing quality advanced in situ diagnostics for both the plasma phase as well as diagnostics to characterize the plasma-surface/material interaction are required. This basic understanding will enable control over these processes, such as the controle of the ion energy distribution function by tailoring the bias voltage on the materials processed. The aspects which differentiates plasma processing from other processing technologies such as the presence of charge, short living reactive radicals and nonequilibrium species distribution to name a few, will be discussed. In a future outlook I will argue that the nonequilibrium aspects, especially connected to the vibrational populations in molecular plasmas, are not yet exploited to its full extent. If we succeed in controlling the population of the vibrational states many novel applications in catalysis, gas and surface processing of materials come within reach.