Physics of plasmachemistry

In the past few years, the physics of low temperature plasmas has received a new stimulus from applications in chemistry and surface treatment that have emerged empirically as extrapolations of hot gas-chemistry and e.g. chemical vapour deposition (CVD). The plasma chemistry field can be sub-divided into three classes: first, volume chemistry in which a gaseous feed is converted to other products by means of a discharge, as e.g. ozone-production in corona discharges in the air; second, surface modification where the surface of a substrate is altered by bombardment with atomic particles; third, melting and plasma spraying in which either material is melted by the heat of the plasma or surfaces are covered with particles of 10-100 mu m size accelerated and melted by the plasma. The author concentrates on surface modification which is, at present, the most extensively explored field. To a large extent the work is motivated by developments in submicron technology and the demand for thin high quality layers with anticorrosive, hardness or other propertie