from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Flexible ultra-thin glass is used as a substrate or packaging material in microelectronics engineering, where the level of cleanliness determines the quality of the final product. Surface properties of glass are governed by a surface nano-layer. Besides cleaning from coarse impurities, the demand is also for nano-decontamination, where standard cleaning proves insufficient. In microelectronics and printed flexible electronics, the bonding of thin structures deposited using printed conductive inks on glass substrates is of essential importance. The non-thermal, atmospheric-pressure plasma generated by diffuse coplanar surface barrier discharge (DCSBD) was studied as an effective pre-treatment method for cleaning and activation of glass surfaces, implementable into large-scale in-line manufacturing. Two industrial adaptations of DCSBD system were applied on two types of ultra-thin flexible glass to compare the effects of plasma treatment of glass in both relaxed, and bent state. DCSBD "Air-pillow" with a planar discharge unit is designed for contactless treatment of smooth flat large-area surfaces. A roll reactor with a concavely curved DCSBD unit is intended to exemplify its integration into roll-to-roll manufacturing. The effect of plasma treatment and its stability was analyzed with water contact angle measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Significant wettability improvement was achieved with both applied DCSBD geometries, with better effect uniformity and durability after using the DCSBD in the planar configuration.
Keywords: Atmospheric plasma treatment, ultra-thin flexible glass, wetting, large-area, roll-to-roll© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.