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

自2008年以来，我一直在U。蒙特利尔是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学的研究项目。在这种情况下，重要的研究工作致力于先进的等离子体源，等离子体诊断和原位表面表征工具的发展，以监测带电和活性中性物种的数量密度和能量分布，以及驱动它们与等离子体暴露的基板和腔室壁的相互作用的反应动力学。这项研究已经非常成功，在与电子，光电子和MEMS相关的多组分氧化物和氮化物薄膜的等离子体沉积和等离子体蚀刻动力学的许多方面提供了显着的进步。新的应用也进行了探索，包括价值最大化的选定的加拿大木材品种，通过等离子体功能化使用流动的余辉冷，介质阻挡放电（DBDs）在大气压下。在接下来的五年里，我打算继续我的研究冷和高活性等离子体源，并探索新的应用领域，在复杂的材料处理密切结合联合收割机等离子体物理和化学与纳米科学和纳米技术。随着CFI和魁北克政府最近授予的“等离子体-沙发和等离子体-纳米材料相互作用实验室（LIPP）”的完成，这项研究的影响预计将大大扩大。通过这笔赠款获得的一些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，但有很强的潜力，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技术部门直接相关的多学科技能的人力资源合格人员。

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.