Copper Film Deposition via Atmospheric Pressure Argon Plasma Jet

Atmospheric plasma technology is widely used in material surface treatment as an environmental-friend and energy efficient method. Recently, atmospheric plasma chemical vapor deposition is heading more and more interests for flexible electronics application. In this study, an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) excited by AC power is constructed for copper film deposition with copper(II) acetylacetonate as precursor and argon as working gas. The copper(II) acetylacetonate in glass tube is vaporized at 190 °C by tube furnace and brought into discharge zone by argon. The quartz glass and polycarbonate are used as substrates. After several minutes operation, the copper film can be deposited on the substrates. The physicochemical properties of the deposited copper film are also characterized by atomic force microscope (AFM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The APPJ plasma is characterized by voltage-current waveform measurement, discharge image observation, temperature measurement, and optical emission spectrum diagnosis. The film deposition process is discussed with the plasma characterizes to reveal the mechanism of atmospheric plasma chemical vapor deposition and promote its industry application.