Fraunhofer Group for Light & Surfaces
Atmospheric pressure plasma processes are commonly used in the industry to clean surfaces as well as to activate a wide range of materials. Fraunhofer IST continuously develops technologies to enable the targeted insertion of functional groups into thin films and surfaces through suitable process control. As a result, the adhesion of lacquers or adhesives can be significantly improved since the surfaces can be adapted directly to the reactive layer system. Thanks to coating processes at atmospheric pressure, wettability and surface tension can be adjusted in a targeted manner. This way, the institute has made it possible to generate hydrophilic, hydrophobic and even superhydrophobic surfaces.
Atmospheric pressure plasma processes allow the production of barrier coatings on flexible substrates, for example to prevent plasticizers of PVC from migrating.
In addition, these processes can be used to coat silicon wafers, textiles, porous substrates and objects with 3D geometries in addition to plastic films and glass substrates.
Plasma-activated high-rate evaporation and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are two core technologies Fraunhofer FEP develops. High-rate PECVD is an established process for depositing silicon-based polymer layers for different applications. The economical vacuum coating process also requires high coating rates on large areas. The plasma-activated deposition is a suitable method to achieve good coating properties even at high rates.