Activating surfaces with flexible and compact plasma sources

Kompakte, atmosphärische Plasmaquelle im 2,45 GHz-ISM-Band, u.a. geeignet zur Oberflächenaktivierung oder in der Medizin. (© FBH/D. Wolf) / Compact, atmospheric plasma source in the 2.45 GHz ISM band, suited e.g. for surface activation or medial applications. (© FBH/D. Wolf)

Kompakte Pulslichtquelle liefert flexible Pulse im Piko- und Nanosekundenbereich mit Nanojoule-Energien. (© FBH/P. Immerz) / Compact pulse light source delivering flexible pulses in the picosecond and nanosecond range with nanojoule energies. (© FBH/P. Immerz)

At the SEMICON Europa trade fair in Munich, the Ferdinand-Braun-Institut (FBH) will show-case new developments at the joint stand of »Research Fab Microelectronics« in hall A4, stand 504 from 13 to 16 November 2018.

Among others, the Berlin-based Leibniz institute will present a compact atmospheric plasma source that is suitable, for example, for the treatment of surfaces and for integration into pro-duction or process equipment. Test surfaces will be activated on-site in order to prepare them for printing or coating. The source in the 2.45 GHz ISM band comprises a microwave power oscillator, a resonator for plasma excitation and the control electronics, all integrated in a compact housing. Supply of the plasma medium (air, oxygen, argon, ...) and the cooling medium is flexible so that the source can be tailored both for manual use (e.g. in medicine) and for application in production or process machines (e.g. printing, coating systems). The plasma source achieves an output power in the plasma of around 20 W, which is sufficient for many applications.

In addition, an all-in-one pulse light source (PLS) will be shown that combines two core com-petencies of FBH: customized diode lasers for pulse generation combined with optimized high-speed driver electronics. PLS delivers high-precision pulses in the picosecond and nanosecond range with nano-joule energies. Pulse energy, pulse width, pulse spacing and rep-etition frequencies can be flexibly adapted. The laser system offers freely selectable repetition frequencies from the Hz to the MHz range and pulse peak powers of up to 50 watts. Via computer control, the all-in-one system can be operated in several pulse modes. Moreover, it can be easily integrated into various laser systems.

FBH will also present the demonstrator of a potential-free differential probe head for measur-ing high currents. With this measuring adapter for oscilloscopes, differential electrical signals in the frequency range from DC to over 1 GHz can be measured galvanically isolated – even when superimposed by a high common-mode voltage. Another exhibit will be hetero-integrated chips for terahertz applications, which combine the advantages of two technology worlds at chip level: the high output power of indium phosphide with the complexity of silicon technology.