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

自2008年以来，我一直在蒙特雷尔大学领导一个关于复杂薄膜和纳米材料加工中等离子体-表面相互作用物理的研究项目。在这方面，重要的研究工作致力于开发先进的等离子体源、等离子体诊断和原位表面表征工具，以监测带电和反应中性物质的数量密度和能量分布，以及推动它们与等离子体暴露的底物和腔壁相互作用的反应动力学。这项研究非常成功，在与电子学、光电子学和MEMS相关的多元氧化物和氮化物薄膜的等离子体沉积和等离子体刻蚀动力学方面取得了重大进展。还探索了新的应用，包括通过使用常压下冷介质阻挡放电(DBDS)的流动余辉进行等离子体功能化，使选定的加拿大木材物种的价值最大化。在接下来的五年里，我打算继续我对冷和高活性等离子体源的研究，并探索将等离子体物理和化学与纳米科学和纳米技术紧密结合在一起的复杂材料加工的新应用领域。这项研究的影响预计将随着CFI和魁北克政府最近授予的“实验室d‘Interaction等离子体-沙发碎屑和等离子体-纳米材料(LIPP)”的完成而大大扩展。通过这笔赠款获得的一些仪器在世界上是独一无二的，因此允许前所未有的实验能力来开发和实施基于低温和高活性等离子体的创新过程。这项提议的主要成果是产生了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，但有很强的潜力为开发对加拿大经济具有战略重要性的领域的新应用做出贡献。另一个成果是培训了大量具有与加拿大高科技部门直接相关的多学科技能的HQP。

Since 2008, I have been leading at U. Montréal a research program on the physics of plasma-surface interactions in complex thin films and nanomaterials processing. In this context, important research efforts were devoted to the development of advanced 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. This research has been extremely successful, providing significant advances on many aspects related to the plasma deposition and plasma etching dynamics of multi-component oxide and nitride thin films relevant for electronics, optoelectronics, and MEMS. Novel applications have also been explored, including the value maximization of selected Canadian wood species through plasma functionalization using the flowing afterglow of a cold, dielectric barrier discharge (DBDs) at atmospheric-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 intimately combine plasma physics and chemistry with nanoscience and nanotechnologies. The impact of this research is expected to be tremendously extended with the completion of the "Laboratoire d'interactions plasmas-couches minces et plasmas-nanomatériaux (LIPP)" recently awarded by the CFI and Quebec government. Some of the instruments acquired through this grant 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 novel applications in fields of strategic importance for the Canadian economy. Another outcome is the training of a significant amount of HQP with multidisciplinary skills that are directly relevant to Canada's high-techology sectors.