DBD reactor design and optimization in continuous AP-PECVD from HMDSO/N2/N2O mixture

Abstract

Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) deposition of thin films is increasingly studied as a promising alternative to other non-thermal processes such as low-pressure plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) or wet-coating. In this paper we demonstrate how optimizing gas injection in the DBD results in an improvement in the reactor performance. We propose to confine the precursor gas close to the deposition substrate by an additional gas flow. The performance of this design is studied though simulation of mass transport. To optimize the deposited thickness, gas cost and reactor clogging, we assess the influence of the confinement, total gas flow rate and DBD length. The confinement is found to reduce reactor clogging, even for long DBD, and increase the deposit thickness. This increase in thickness requires a proportionate increase in the gas flow-rate, making the gas-cost the main limitation of the proposed design. We show, however, that by fine-tuning the operating conditions a beneficial compromise can be obtained between the three optimization objectives.