Surface treatment of polyimide using atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma

Abstract

In this study, polyimide was treated by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge plasma using a helium and/or helium-oxygen mixture gasses.The polyimide was placed between copper electrodes with dielectric material installed on the cathode electrode.To investigate the surface treatment, the plasmas as a function of power, treatment time, and plasma gasses were introduced on the polyimide substrate.The experimental results show that the polyimide treated by dielectric barrier discharge plasma increases the wetting property.This property can be attributed to the surface roughness and the water compatible functional groups.The roughness increases by helium plasma treatment and can be further improved by increasing plasma power or the presence of oxygen in the helium-oxygen mixture plasma.On the other hand, the plasma surface treatment led to formation of oxygen related functional groups of -C--O and -OH.