Characterization of an atmospheric pressure plasma jet for surface modification and thin film deposition

In this paper, an experimental study is presented to characterize a commercially available atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) kINPen which can be used for local surface modification, e.g. changing the wettability as well as for thin film deposition with silicon-organic and metal-organic precursors to enhance scratch resistance or to lower the gas permeability. Characterization of the jet discharge has been carried out by three methods: (i) measurement of the energy influx from the jet plasma to a substrate by a calorimetric probe, (ii) spatial resolved investigation of the plasma beam by optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and (iii) observation of the plasma jet by video imaging. The deposited SiOx and AlOx films were analyzed by XPS measurements.