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Selective Plasma Etching of Polyphenolic Composite in O 2 /Ar Plasma for Improvement of Material Tracking Properties
Author(s) -
Puliyalil Harinarayanan,
Filipič Gregor,
Cvelbar Uroš
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plasma processes and polymers
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.644
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1612-8869
pISSN - 1612-8850
DOI - 10.1002/ppap.201600005
Subject(s) - materials science , carbonization , etching (microfabrication) , polymer , x ray photoelectron spectroscopy , plasma , composite number , plasma etching , compositing , analytical chemistry (journal) , composite material , argon , chemical engineering , chemistry , scanning electron microscope , chromatography , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , physics , image (mathematics) , quantum mechanics , artificial intelligence , computer science , engineering
Compositing with suitable fillers is a common strategy to improve the electrical insulation properties of polymer materials, which is limited by the carbonization of protruding surface polymer. To resolve this, we performed an Ar/O 2 plasma etching on glass‐lled polyphenolic composite to uncover the llers by selective removal of the surface polymer. Exposure of the glass llers increased the performance level up to 65%, which enabled the material to be used as insulator for commercial applications. Plasma diagnostics with probe measurements and emission spectroscopy revealed that the etching rate was mostly inuenced by the neutral oxygen atom density rather than O 2 or Ar ions. Additionally, Ar content in the reactor chamber could control the densities of species, i.e., neutral oxygen density, and thereby polymer etching rate.