Avoiding dust contamination by near-plasma chemical surface engineering

Dust contamination is a frequent problem when processing materials at the nanoscale by plasma technology. Various approaches have thus been applied to protect samples, however, requiring to adjust plasma properties which also imposes limitations on the process window. We therefore propose near-plasma chemical (NPC) surface engineering as a way to avoid dust contamination during and after plasma operation without altering the plasma environment by simply locating a polymeric mesh above the samples in the plasma sheath. Because of the electric potential acquired by the mesh, heavy charged particles cannot pass the open area of the mesh, avoiding their contact with the samples positioned below. Samples fabricated by NPC surface engineering are dust-free independently on the size or the origin of the powder nanoparticles. This neat approach can support many high-precision, dust-free applications of plasma technology on an industrial scale.