Diagnostics of cold and highly reactive plasmas applied to complex materials and nanomaterials processing

自2008年以来，我一直在U。蒙特利尔是一个雄心勃勃的研究计划，研究复杂薄膜和纳米材料加工中等离子体表面相互作用的物理学。在这种情况下，重要的研究工作致力于等离子体源，等离子体诊断和原位表面表征工具的开发，以监测带电和活性中性物质的数量密度和能量分布，以及驱动它们与等离子体暴露基板和腔室壁相互作用的反应动力学。近年来，该计划在研究成果和HQP培训方面都非常成功。更具体地说，我们的研究提供了显着的进步，在许多方面相关的等离子体沉积和等离子体蚀刻动力学的多组分氧化物薄膜相关的电子和光子学，以及在新的光学光谱诊断方法的发展加上碰撞辐射模型的带电和激发中性物种的表征。这包括存在无碰撞电子加热的低压微波等离子体，具有纳米颗粒形成和损失动力学的周期变化的低压尘埃等离子体，以及由低频和高频电场产生的非热的大气压等离子体。还探索了对加拿大具有非常强的技术影响的新应用，包括在大气压下使用冷介质阻挡放电实现木质产品的价值最大化，以及在减压下使用微波等离子体的流动余辉对石墨烯薄膜进行等离子体诱导掺杂。** 在接下来的五年里，我打算继续研究冷和高活性等离子体源，并探索复杂材料加工中的新应用领域，将联合收割机等离子体物理和化学与纳米科学和纳米技术相结合。这项研究的影响预计将极大地扩大与冷和高反应性等离子体的物理学和应用的新的加拿大研究椅子的设置和完成3个基础设施项目由CFI授予。通过这些赠款获得的一些基于等离子体的仪器在世界上是独一无二的，从而使前所未有的实验能力能够开发和实施基于冷和高反应性等离子体的创新过程。该提案的主要成果是产生关于前沿材料加工方法的新知识。这项研究显然是竞争前的，但有很大的潜力，有助于在加拿大经济的战略重要性领域的新应用的发展。另一个成果是培训了大量具有与加拿大高科技行业直接相关的多学科技能的顶级HQP。

Since 2008, I have been leading at U. Montréal an ambitious research program on the physics of plasma-surface interactions in complex thin films and nanomaterials processing. In this context, important research efforts are devoted to the development of plasma sources, plasma diagnostics, and in-situ surface characterization tools to monitor the number density and energy distribution of charged and reactive neutral species as well as the reaction kinetics driving their interactions with plasma-exposed substrates and chamber walls.******In recent years, this program has been extremely successful in terms of both research accomplishments and HQP training. More specifically, our research has provided significant advances on many aspects related to the plasma deposition and plasma etching dynamics of multi-component oxide thin films relevant for electronics and photonics as well as in the development of new optical spectroscopic diagnostic methods coupled with collisional-radiative models for the characterization of charged and excited neutral species. This includes low-pressure microwave plasmas in presence of collisionless electron heating, low-pressure dusty plasmas with cyclic variations of the nanoparticle formation and loss dynamics, but also non-thermal, atmospheric-pressure plasmas produced by both low- and high-frequency electric fields. Novel applications with very strong technological impact for Canada have also been explored, including the value maximization of wood-based products using cold, dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) at atmospheric pressure and the plasma-induced doping of graphene films using the flowing afterglow of microwave plasmas at reduced pressure. ******Over the next five years, I intend to pursue my investigations of cold and highly reactive plasma sources and to explore new fields of applications in complex materials processing that combine plasma physics and chemistry with nanoscience and nanotechnologies. The impact of this research is expected to be tremendously extended with the set-up of a new Canada research chair on the physics and applications of cold and highly reactive plasmas and the completion of 3 infrastructure projects awarded by CFI. Some of the plasma-based instruments acquired through these grants are unique in the world, and thus allow unprecedented experimental capabilities to develop and implement innovative processes based on cold and highly reactive plasmas. The main outcome of this proposal is the generation of new knowledge on front-edge materials processing methods. The research is obviously precompetitive, but has a strong potential to contribute to the development of new applications in fields of strategic importance for the Canadian economy. Another outcome is the training of a significant amount of top-level HQP with multidisciplinary skills that are directly relevant to Canada's high-techology sectors.