Plasma Applications

Please see the various application links on the right of this page.

Plasma treatment is a process by which the surface of a material is modified in some way through the actions of the dissociated molecular components of a gas. Gas plasma treatment provides a fast, efficient method of surface modification and cleaning for: wire bonding, die attach, encapsulation, conformal coating, printing and other processes. Plasma processing increases wetability, improves lubricity, enhances bonding and adhesion strength, promotes underfill adhesion and enables deposition of bio-compatible materials.

For etching and cleaning processes, unwanted material is removed from the surface of the substrate using a relatively high energy plasma. Glow Research plasma systems can also be used for surface activation processes, where the first several molecular layers of the material are altered by different gas groups increasing the surface energy of the material.

The Glow Research Systems are used in:

Materials Science
Microfluidics
MEMS
Optics
Microscopy
Polymer Science

Biomedical
Semiconductor Manufacturing
Optical
Contact lens
Hydrophilic surface treatment

Common materials used are:

Glass
Metals
Polymers
Plastics
Biomaterials
Semiconductors

Ceramics
Composites
Cleans, activates prior to printing or bonding prior to coating, laminating or deposition processes
Improves electroosmotic flow (EOF)
And many other materials

Plasma Treatment to Create a Hydrophilic Surface on Silicon Substrates

Plasma Treatment to Create a Hydrophilic Surface on Silicon Substrates See test below showing the initial contact angle of 45 to 74 degrees – after plasma treatment in the AutoGlow 1000 the contact angle was < 2 degrees. Water-Drop-Testing: Plasma Treatment to Create a Hydrophilic Surface on Silicon Substrates–is used to modify silicon … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning for PDMS Bonding

Plasma Cleaning for PDMS/PDMS and PDMS/Glass Bonding: Plasma cleaning is commonly used technique for surface preparation for various applications, including bonding PDMS (Polydimethylsiloxane) to PDMS or glass. Here’s how it works and why it’s beneficial for such bonding processes: How Plasma Cleaning Works: Plasma cleaning involves subjecting surfaces to a low-pressure plasma environment, typically using … [ Read More ]

Production Plasma System

Production plasma system. The AutoGlow 1000 plasma system is a production plasma system with advanced software control. Production plasma system can be used for 300 mm wafers – AutoGlow 1000 is used for surface modification, photoresist removal, plasma descum, treatment prior to bonding, oxide etch, nitride etch, polymer etch and general plasma cleaning. The chamber … [ Read More ]

Plasma cleaning for Microscopy

Plasma cleaning for Microscopy Plasma cleaning is a technique commonly used in microscopy to prepare samples for imaging. It is particularly useful for removing contaminants, organic residues, and other impurities from the surface of samples. Here is how plasma cleaning for microscopy is applied: Sample Preparation: Before imaging a sample under a microscope, it is … [ Read More ]

Plasma etching nitride, oxide, polyimide

Plasma etching nitride, oxide, silicon, polyimide and photoresist in a Glow Research AutoGlow 200 plasma system. Results below show results for etching nitride, oxide, silicon and photoresist removal. “Autoglow 200 is simple yet powerful, and makes it easy to remove silicon nitride passivation from semiconductor devices.” Customer: Volodymyr Pikhur” with Hardware Root Research LLC Here … [ Read More ]

Plasma treatment prior to epoxy bonding

Plasma treatment prior to epoxy bonding is a common industrial process used to improve the adhesion of epoxy to a surface, and is a reliable method for ensuring a strong bond between two materials. Plasma treatment is a plasma glow process used to clean or etch a surface prior to application of an adhesive, such … [ Read More ]

300mm Plasma Etching of Oxide

300mm Plasma Etching of Oxide. The AutoGlow 1000 showed SiO2 etching uniformity of less than 8% on a 300mm wafer using one electrode shelf set (powered bottom shelf, grounded electrode shelf above). An etch rate of 603 Angstroms/min was achieved on the 300mm plasma etch of oxide. This shows that the AutoGlow can be used … [ Read More ]

300mm Plasma Descum System

300mm Plasma Descum System was tested at the Glow Research Lab. Photoresist removal testing showed uniformity of less than 9% using one electrode shelf set (powered bottom shelf, grounded electrode shelf above). An photoresist removal rate of 148 Angstroms/min was achieved on the 300mm plasma etch of oxide. The AutoGlow 1000 can be used for … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaner for increased wettability and improved bonding

Plasma Cleaner for increased wettability and improved bonding Using our GLOW plasma system with room air as a process gas–Dr. White found that the ideal process time was only 3-5 seconds. Read more about his findings for plasma cleaner for increased wettability and improved bonding. Surface free energy on Polypropylene (PP) using a plasma cleaner … [ Read More ]

Plasma etching passivation nitride and oxide for Failure Analysis (FA)

AG 200 etch diagram 6-20-23Plasma etching passivation nitride and oxide for Failure Analysis (FA) in a Glow Research AutoGlow 200 plasma system. “Autoglow 200 is simple yet powerful, and makes it easy to remove silicon nitride passivation from semiconductor devices.” Volodymyr Pikhur” Hardware Root Research LLC Here are some before plasma nitride etch (left) and … [ Read More ]

Improving Wettability of Plasma-Treated Polypropylene

Improving Wettability of Plasma-Treated Polypropylene using a plasma cleaner: Using our GLOW plasma system with room air as a process gas–Dr. White found that the ideal process time was only 3-5 seconds. Read more about his findings for improvement of wettability and surface free energy on Polypropylene (PP) using a plasma cleaner. This paper was … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning Titanium Alloy Surfaces

Plasma Cleaning Titanium Alloy Surfaces. Here is a research paper by our Customers at Orthobond Inc: Jordan Katz, Sophia Gershman & Abraham Belkind. Click here to view this good work. The Glow Research AutoGlow plasma system was used for some of this work. Orthobond Inc., North Brunswick, NJ 08902; 2A. Belkind & Associates, LLC, North … [ Read More ]

Photoresist Stripping, AutoGlow plasma system at MIT

Photoresist Stripping, AutoGlow plasma system at MIT. Here is the SOP from MIT The Auto is a single chamber 4” barrel asher, with a 300W RF maximum power supply, generating an air or oxygen plasma. Plasma causes chemical and kinetic energy to either modify the top levels of a substrate surface, if Using lower energy … [ Read More ]

Plasma Treatment for 3D printing—to increase shear strength and increase epoxy flexural strength

Plasma Treatment for 3D printing—to increase shear strength and increase epoxy flexural strength Strengthening of plasma treated 3D printed ABS through epoxy infiltration Authors: Rafael J. Zaldivar, Tait D. McLouth, Dhruv N. Patel, Joseph V. Severino, Hyun I. Kim The Glow Research AutoGlow plasma system was used to treat Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) material parts. … [ Read More ]

Comparing low frequency (100 kHz) plasma systems to higher frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma systems

Comparing low frequency (100 kHz) plasma systems to higher frequency (13.56 MHz) plasma systems We frequently (no pun intended) have Customers that want to know why we offer 100 kHz systems as well as 13.56 MHz plasma systems, and what is the difference of each. Dr. Daniel Dobkin, coauthor of Principals of Chemical Vapor Deposition … [ Read More ]

Using Argon Plasma to Clean Hybrid Circuits

Using Argon Plasma to Clean Hybrid Circuits. Argon Plasma cleaning of thick film and thin film hybrid circuits provides an effective and safe method for removing many of the final contaminants that are present after the manufacturing process. During the manufacturing process, hybrid circuits can end up with baked photoresist, epoxy bleed out, solder flux … [ Read More ]

Using Spectral Analysis in an AutoGlow Plasma System

Using Spectral Analysis in an AutoGlow Plasma System as a method for detecting and analyzing surface films. Excerpt from the Patent: An Autoglow (Glow Research) plasma chamber with an integrated fiber optic cable connected to a QE Pro Spectrometer (Ocean Optics) was used for cleaning and spectral analysis. Prior to testing the titanium alloy samples, … [ Read More ]

Plasma Etching Graphene with a Glow Research AutoGlow

Plasma Etching Graphene with a Glow Research AutoGlow. A 5.97 um channel of Graphene was etched away in the trenches to create an insulated region of Sio2 around the channel and graphene pads. Electrical Characterization of 2D Materials, Zainab Mahmood, Brandon Walter, Zhizhen. Ma, Dr. Y. lilach, Dr. V. Sorger, Dr. S. LeBlanc. See this … [ Read More ]

Plasma Surface Modification Video

Plasma surface modification video. click here The Glow Research plasma system was used with both nitrogen gas and then oxygen gas. Results are shown using the water bead test to determine and show the before–and after effects of using plasma to change the silicon surface from hydrophobic to hydrophilic. silicon wafers were used (3″) water … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning of Carbon Nanotube Surfaces

Plasma Cleaning of Carbon Nanotube Surfaces The importance of using a plasma cleaning system that generates oxygen radicals (OR) is mentioned in the research below. Contact Glow Research for more details on systems that fit this requirement. View Article Non-Destructive Cleaning of Carbon Nanotube Surfaces:: Removal of Organic Contaminants and Chemical Residue with Oxygen Radicals … [ Read More ]

Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with RF Matching Network

Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with RF Matching Network Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) with RF Matching Network can be used with Glow Research plasma systems or provided as a module source for various plasma systems. The Glow Research Inductively Coupled Plasma, ICP Source/System have been tested to a base pressure in the 10-7 Range, and are … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning of Surfaces

Plasma Cleaning of Surfaces with oxygen plasma system chemistry and different plasma cleaning systems configurations are discussed: We have had the pleasure of working with Abe Belkind and consider him to be an authority on plasma cleaning. Here is a paper by Abe Belkind and Sophia Gershman, PLASMA CLEANING of SURFACES: http://www.jhv-vac.com/image/pdf/Plasma%20Cleaning%20of%20Surfaces_en.pdf In this paper … [ Read More ]

Oxygen Plasma System at UNC (University of North Carolina)

Oxygen Plasma System AutoGlow by Glow Research Located: Chapman Hall – Cleanroom Uses: The AutoGlow system is used for: Oxygen plasma is generated using a 300 W RF power supply that can operate at powers between 10 – 300 W. The unit can handle 4” wafers or smaller. Commonly used materials: Glass, Metals, Semiconductors, Polymers … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning — Using Plasma to Detect Sulphur Contamination for Plating

Using Plasma to detect sulphur contamination using the AutoGlow plasma cleaning system. Customer input: The Glow Research AutoGlow plasma cleaning system was used with an oxygen plasma to detect surface contamination from a silver plating vendor. Sulphur dioxide temporarily reduces oxygen on the silver plated surface and becomes colorless. With the introduction of Oxygen Plasma sulphur … [ Read More ]

Plasma Removal of Encapsulant to reveal Copper Pillars

Plasma Removal of Encapsulant to reveal Copper Pillars Removing Non-Conductive NCP Paste Encapsulant to reveal Copper Pillars with the OptiGlow ACE plasma system The following data and graph shows before plasma removal and after: In Summary: -Plasma Removal of NCP Encapsulant to reveal Copper Pillars using the powered electrode shelf in the OptiGlow ACE system … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning Hybrid Circuits

Plasma cleaning hybrid circuits with Argon is a safe and effective way to remove epoxy bleed out, baked photoresist, solder flux, or other organic contaminants. Plasma cleaning hybrid circuits improves wire bond strength and will increase yield and throughput. Documented test have shown up to a 70% decrease in wire bond failures after plasma cleaning. … [ Read More ]

RIE removal of Encapsulant

Using the OptiGlow ACE RIE/Plasma system to remove mold compound from packaged IC devices with copper interconnect or copper wire bonded devices. Plasma and Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) have been used to etch various films in the semiconductor industry from over 40 years. Using a combination of reactor configurations (RIE, plasma), along with use of the … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning System–Caltech AutoGlow Instructions

The Glow Research AutoGlow is used to prepare substrates for PDMS and plasma surface treatment to improve adhesion for further processing. AutoGlow instructions from Caltech

Plasma Surface Activation–bonding of Glass and PDMS

The quartz chamber AutoGlow plasma system has been used for over 10 years for plasma surface activation in the bonding of PDMS to glass substrates. Most users use an O2 plasma, 30-50 watts, .5 Torr to 1.2 Torr. The AutoGlow can process as low as 10 watts and up to 300 watts in one watt … [ Read More ]

SCHOTT PDMS bonding recommendation

SCHOTT recommending the AutoGlow plasma system: From the SCHOTT site: Can SCHOTT offer any advice on the best method of bonding Glass D (D263) to Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)? The three most common systems / methods used by SCHOTT customers to bond D263 to PDMS are: AutoGlow Plasma System https://www.glowresearch.org/applications.html March Plasma treatment system http://www.marchplasma.com/products.htmExample of a … [ Read More ]

plasma modification of PLC—Stem Cell testing

This work was done at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill using a quartz chamber AutoGlow: The PCL substrates were modified by oxygen plasma treatment in an AutoGlow oxygen plasma system by Glow Research. Oxygen pressure was maintained at 1.3 mbar while the PCL substrates were subjected to 30 W of power intensity for … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning and Preparation

This work was done at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel in a quartz chamber AutoGlow plasma system: 2.1. Thin film preparation Si (100) substrates (1 cm _ 1 cm samples) were sonicated in ethyl acetate for 5 min, and then processed in an oxygen plasma sysem (AutoGlow, GlowResearch, USA) for 3 min at … [ Read More ]

Plasma Cleaning of Gold

The University of Central Florida (UCF) has a AutoGlow plasma system and the Glow Research system is mentioned in this paper: Passsive Hydrogen Senors Using Orthogonal Frequency Coded Acoustic Wave Devices. A in-situ film resistivity sensor was developed using a parallel electrode resistor. On page 10: http://www.asrdcorp.com/files/ASRDR1006F.pdf Jacqueline H. Hines PhD – ASR&D PI Donald C. Malocha, PhD – … [ Read More ]

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) Basics

Reactive Ion Etching (RIE) Basics A disadvantage of wet etching is the undercutting caused by the isotropy–lateral etching at the same rate as the vertical etch. The purpose of dry etching is to create an anisotropic etch – meaning that the etch is directional. An anisotropic etch is critical for good pattern transfer. RIE etching is a standard method of … [ Read More ]

End Point Detection for Plasma Processing

End Point Detection for Plasma Processing The Glow Research Optical sensor (with numeric display) system is commonly used to determine when the etching process is complete…and then manually terminate the plasma process. Such endpoint detection does not require that the specific emitting species be identified, only that the spectral feature change intensity when the etch … [ Read More ]

Plasma Descum

Plasma Descum: This procedure is used to remove thin residual layers of photoresist areas following photoresist development. These residual films are typically less than 1,000 Angstroms thick, but can interfere significantly in resolving the pattern during etching, especially if the pattern geometries are small (such as contact windows). A plasma descum can generally remove these … [ Read More ]

Plasma Clean prior to Deposition

This paper was written by individuals from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel: See 2.1 Thin Film Preparation: Si (100) substrates (1 cm x 1cm) samples were sonicated in ethyl acatate for 5 min., and then processed in an oxygen plasma system (AutoGlow, Glow Research, USA) for 3 min at 100 W. Samples were then etched … [ Read More ]

Plasma treatment for fabrication of a PDMS device

Plasma treatment for fabrication of PDMS device The quartz chamber AutoGlow system is used to plasma treat the wafer substrate and the PDMS device. This protocol details the fabrication of a 2 layer PDMS device, consisting of a valve layer (top) and channel layer (below). It is assumed that masters for respective layers have already … [ Read More ]

Plasma cleaning of gold prior to deposition

Plasma Cleaning of Gold in a Glow Research AutoGlow prior to deposition: See page 10 of this paper: http://www.asrdcorp.com/files/ASRDR1006F.pdf (parallel electrode resistor, PER) specifications are as follows • Electrode Material: Gold • Bus bar dimensions: 5mm x 5mm x 0.18μm • Electrode Material: Gold • Separation between electrodes: 0.3mm • Substrate: 3″ ST Quartz … [ Read More ]

Plasma Bonding for Microfluidics (patent)

Glass cover slides were bonded using the AutoGlow plasma system. Raindance Patent: (under Microfluidics at the last section of this patent) http://www.google.com/patents/US20110250597 Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) (Sylgard® 184, Dow Corning, Midland, Mich.) chips were molded from the negative masters within mold housings of custom design. Glass cover slides were permanently bonded to the fluidic side of the … [ Read More ]

The Glow Research Systems are used in:

Common materials used are:

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