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Here you are going to find explications of important terms in plasma technology:

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ABS: Acrylo-nitrile butadiene styrene is an amorphous rigid carbon of high toughness. The ABS polymers constitute an important material that gained large operating areas. Main use for moulded parts, but also as foil, plates, tubes and profiles. The adhesive properties of ABS can be improved significantly through a plasma treatment.
acrylic: Acrylic is a collective name for chemical substances which all exhibit the acrylic group (CH2=CH-COOH) - like e.g. acrylic acid of acrylates - or polymers of these substances, respectively. The name is derived from Latin, “acer” = sharp, or Greek, “ákros” = pointed, because of the acid smell associated with acrylic acid.
activation: Increasing of a surface’s reactivity by removal or conversion of inactive substances on the surface. Examples are the removal of metal oxide films or the formation of polar groups on polyolefins. Activation is often a necessary precondition for a subsequent coating process for the warranty of sufficient wetting or adhesion of the coating. The most versatile method is plasma activation. Aside plasma activation, there are methods like flaming, corona pre-treating system, or chemical activation baths.
activation of plastics: see „pre-treatment of plastics”
active species: The interaction between plasma and the material affected is due to a great number of active species, like ions, free radicals, electrons, parts of molecules, and photons.
active-gas flow: Active-gas flow is the flow of the functional gases that are added to the “Openair” plasma. These gases react within the plasma and change it as intended. If inert gases are applied, then it is possible to execute plasma treatment in an oxygen-free atmosphere.
adhesion: Adhesion means the forces that act between two different substances’ molecules, or the sticking of two bodies of substances to one another. When speaking of adhesives, adhesion means the laws of how the adhesive layers stick to the join partners’ surface. The processes of adhesion are not totally tackled yet; they are especially complicated because of the fact that the dependencies between the adhesive’s systems and the surfaces of the various join partners are highly complex.

Also see "friction"
adhesion enhancement: Plasma surface-treatment increases the forces between adhesive or coating and synthetics (thermoplastics, elastomers, thermo-plastic elastomers, silicone, rubber). The plasma’s effect generates clean and chemically active surfaces, so that often the adhesion is enhanced without any mediating substance.
adhesion improvement: see „agglutination“ or “adhesion enhancement”
adhesive agent: A very thin layer of a chemical active substance that is applied by large amounts of low boiling substances.
adsorption: Adsorption: an atom or Molecule of a gas or liquid adds on inner surface of the adsorbent. “Absorption”, by contrast, means the bedding of an atom or molecule into the free volume of a solid body of fluid. The opposite, the delivery of atoms/molecules, is called “desorption”.
AFM: AFM stands for Atomic Force Microscope (German: RKM for "Rasterkraftmikroskop"), a microscope, developed in 1986 by Gerd Binnig, Calvin Quate and Christoph Gerber, that scans surfaces mechanically in nanometre scale. It works like this: the so-called cantilever, a needle attached to a leaf spring, is moved line by line across the surface. When the spring is bent because of the surface's structure, its deflection is measured by capacitive or, more typically, optical sensors. The tips' radius of curvature averages normally 10-20 nm, which allows lateral resolutions of 0.1-10 nm, depending on the sample's surface roughness. Piezo elements serve as drivers for the exact movement of the needle across the sample; therefore it is possible to scan areas of no more than 100 x 100 µm. The typical scanning speed lies around 1 Hz, which means that one line can be scanned back and forth per second. With normal resolutions of 250 × 250 up to 500 × 500 dots per inch, scanning one picture takes about 10min.
agglutination: In all areas of the industrial production, gluing gets more and more important. In supportive elements in automotive engineering and aircraft construction. Here, a higher stability is obtained in comparison to riveting, and the thermal stress of welding is avoided. The surfaces to be agglutinated must be absolutely clean and require a suitable surface treatment, depending on the material.
aluminium: Aluminium (from Latin „alumen“ = alum) is a chemical element of the periodic table, it has the atomic number 13. Its symbol is Al and belongs to the boron group (formerly also called poor or post-transition metals). This light metal has a dull silvery appearance, due to a thin layer of oxidation that forms quickly when it is exposed to air. The protective oxide layer causes aluminium’s excellent corrosion resistance. Aluminium is a very soft metal, it is very ductile and can be rolled out to thin foil. It is the third-most abundant element in Earth's crust and is very rare in its free form. It is a good conductor.
aluminium cleaning: The surface of aluminium possesses a passivating oxide layer, but it tends to adsorbing organic impurities. The removal of the adsorbates and the oxide layer in one step is possible by plasma treatments.
aluminium oxide: Al2O3, a hard oxide that occurs in different modifications, of which corundum possesses highest hardness. Through contact with the aerial oxygen, a thin transparent Al2O3 layer is readily built up on aluminium surfaces that protects the aluminium from further oxidation. By anodisation, this oxide layer - and therewith its protective effect – is artificially intensified. In plasma, Al2O3 surfaces can be etched by Ar-bombardment or gases containing halogen.
aluminum: see „aluminium“
amphiphilicity: Amphiphilicity characterizes a substance as being both hydrophilic and lipophilic. That means the substance is readily soluble in polar as well as in nonpolar solvents. The best-known polar solvent is water, from which the term "hydrophilic" was derived. Hydrophobicity can e.g. consist in a substance's solubility in oil or grease; such a substance is called lipophilic. Important amphiphiles are: Tensides, used as soaps. Their ability to clean is in particular due to their amphiphilicity. Emulsifiers in food, e.g. lecithin. Phospholipids, a principal component of cell membranes. Materials or substances described as anisotropic do not show the same properties for each direction.
anisotropy: Anisotropy (Greek: "an(ti)” against/not, "isos” equal, "tropos” rotation, direction) means a characteristic’s directional dependence. It is the opposite of isotropy. The term is applied in this sense in physics (e.g. radiation, magnetism), materials science, crystallography, and mathematics, to different properties of the examined systems.
anode: An anode (from Greek “anodos” = up) is a positive charged electrode and the counter electrode of the cathode. Anodes accept, cathodes emit electrodes. Anions flow to the anode, cations to the cathode.
antiadhesive: Antiadhesive surfaces can be created under atmospheric pressure through plasma coating by Openair®-plasma. Contrary to the enhancement of adhesion, it is also possible to reduce adhesion by choosing the right processing parameters or through a treatment by plasma polymerization.
anti-friction varnish: Sliding properties between two surfaces can be enhanced by varnish applied onto the surface. For problematic materials, a pre-treatment through radicals, charged and activated particles as those existing in plasma, can improve the adhesion properties.
application range: Small-batch production, analytics, medical engineering, sterilisation, research and development, automotive industry, archaeology, textile treatment, plastics, electrical engineering, precision engineering, semi-conductor engineering, sensor technology, watch makers, optics...
applications, possible: Possible applications are cleaning, activation, and coating of components’ surfaces by plasma.
argon (Ar): Argon (Greek „αργό(ν)“ = neuter – the lethargic element because of its chemical inertness) is a chemical element on the periodic table, it has symbol Ar and atomic number 18. This colour- and odourless inert gas is the most abundant noble gas in Earth’s atmosphere.
aseptic cleaning: Sterilization of surfaces for medical, surgical and clinical applications. Openair®-plasma has a sterilizing effect and is therefore especially suitable for in-line processes in the packing industry. Further applications in the field of medical engineering are possible.
ashing: In a plasma composed of oxygen and nitrogen, organic substances in particular can be removed from the surface by oxidation processes, because it is mainly the gases carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide that are generated here. Ashers are often applied in order to remove photoresists from the samples in lithography processes.
atmospheric plasma / atmospheric-pressure plasma: Plasma that is conducted under normal pressure, e.g. Openair®-plasma. It does not require vacuum chambers and is therefore easy to integrate into production lines.
Auger effect: A two-electron process where a weakly bounded electron falls back into a state of lower energy, resulting in a release of energy. This energy is transmitted onto another weakly bounded electron of the same atom, by which this electron (Auger electron) is emitted from the atom. AES, the Auger electron spectroscopy, is based on the Auger effect: it is a method used to characterise the atoms close to the surface and their bonding state, in particularly used for light elements like carbon, nitrogen, and boron.
automotive engineering: Plasma processes are often used in the automotive industry: cleaning, activation, coating.