PLASMA-ACTIVATED HIGH-RATE EVAPORATION USING A LOW-VOLTAGE ELECTRON-BEAM SYSTEM

Aluminium-oxide-coated plastic films have attained increasing economic importance. Decisive for their general use is the cost of coating. A major price determinant is the deposition rate. With reactive high rate evaporation of aluminium and aluminium oxide, commercial feasibility is attainable. High deposition rates of the order of 100 nm s(-1) or more do not yet, however, meet the targeted property requirements. It will be pointed out that progress can be attained by use of the plasma activation process. The present level of development will be illustrated. Finally, the direction and orientation for future research will be shown.