Surface treatment of glass by microplasma

Microplasma technology was used in many applications from biomedical to surface treatment of polymers. A new application could be surface treatment of glass panels for the electronic industry in order to improve the surface wettability. The technology which we propose is remote microplasma method. It can be easily applied as an industrial process due to the relatively low discharge voltage around 1 kV and a small size of the reactor. This paper presents the surface treatment by microplasma of glass using Ar, and mixtures of Ar with N₂ and O₂. Microplasma process was analyzed be emission spectroscopy method. A Marx generator with MOSFET switches, a neon transformer and a pulse power supply were used to energize the electrodes. The emission spectra were measured by an ICCD camera and a spectrometer. An optic fiber was used to have an accurate measurement of a small part of microplasma discharge. Surface wettability of glass was confirmed measuring contact angle before and after the microplasma treatment. The surface of glass was modified due to the action of the radicals and active species generated by microplasma. Emission spectrum of microplasma discharge in Ar and mixtures of Ar with N₂ and O₂ showed Ar I peaks, OH peaks, N₂ second positive band system peaks and N₂ first positive band system peaks.