Henniker Plasma’s wide range of configurable Plasma Etch Systems are configurable for both chemical and physical etching applications, such as enhancing the wettability of fluoropolymers including PTFE, and also for photoresist removal. Chemical plasma etching is used to ‘roughen’ a surface on the microscopic scale.
The component’s surface is etched using a reactive process gas. The material is precisely sputtered off, converted to the gas phase and removed via the vacuum system.
The surface area is significantly increased, making the material easily wettable. Etching is used prior to gluing, printing, and painting and is mainly useful for processing of POM and PTFE, for example, which otherwise cannot be bonded or printed on.
Physical etching or reactive ion etching process brings a highly directional flux of energetic, reactive ions to the surface of the material. By doing so, a precisely controlled patterning of the substrate takes place as the unmasked sample is etched away by the reactive ions.
All of Henniker Plasma’s plasma systems can be configured for Reactive Ion Etch making them an ideal, economical laboratory development tool in applications such as organic electronics or semiconductor research.
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Key Features
- Driven electrode configuration
- User friendly TFT software control
- Operation with reactive gases
- Non-stop variable power output
- Lab/process scale chamber volumes starting from 100mm diameter
- Gas shower and temperature control options