Deposition of SiOχ-Like Thin Films from a Mixture of HMDSO and Oxygen by Low Pressure and DBD Discharges to Improve the Corrosion Behaviour of Steel

Abstract

Hexamethyldisiloxane was used to deposit silicon dioxide thin films using a low frequency plasma reactor at low pressure as well as a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure. FT‐IR, XPS, EIS, SEM and ellipsometry were used to analyse the samples. The results show that, at low pressure, the deposited films which are smooth, continuous and dense present a polymer‐like structure. By carrying out the film deposition after an oxygen plasma pretreatment step, a further improvement in the protective properties is achieved, which is observed in the case of SiOχ coatings with 13.56 MHz RF generators.1 At atmospheric pressure, the deposited films present an inorganic character deposited in open air and a polymer‐like one deposited under a controlled nitrogen atmosphere in our DBD reactor. The latter also allows continuous films which present the best anti‐corrosive properties (which have been studied for the first time for anti‐corrosive properties) when they contain some carbon incorporated.

Deposition of Organosilicon Coatings by a Non‐Equilibrium Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Jet: Design, Analysis and Macroscopic Scaling Law of the Process

“…Physical and chemical properties of APPJ have been reviewed in many papers1, 3, 4 and it appears that these plasmas are characterized by properties similar to those of low pressure glow discharges. Plasma deposited SiO x coatings have various applications ranging from oxygen barrier layers for food packaging,5 dielectric coatings for microelectronics6 to anticorrosion protective layers properties 7, 8…”

Ar/HMDSO/O2 Fed Atmospheric Pressure DBDs: Thin Film Deposition and GC‐MS Investigation of By‐Products

“…In the last decades the interest for organosilicon and silica‐like thin films has continuously increased for their potential utilization in many technological fields1 such as microelectronics,2–5 packaging,6, 7 scratch‐resistant materials,8 corrosion protection,9–12 and biomaterials 13. Plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) has turned out to be a very attractive preparation method for these films since it is compatible with most materials, also sensitive to temperature increase (e.g., plastics, natural and synthetic fabrics, etc.…”

“…Among the various experimental ways to generate non‐equilibrium plasmas at atmospheric pressure, dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) technology is one of the most popular approach for thin film deposition and in particular for the production of SiO x coatings (see, for instance, refs 11, 12, 28–43…”

Nitrogen Introduction in pp‐HMDSO Thin Films Deposited by Atmospheric Pressure Dielectric Barrier Discharge: An XPS Study

“…In spite of growing interest for atmospheric pressure‐dielectric barrier discharge (AP‐DBD) deposition processes over the past 30 years,1, 2 the first papers reporting the AP‐DBD deposition of silicon‐based coatings were published in the middle of 1990s 3. The wide range of applications of silicon‐based thin films, including protective layer,4, 5 gas permeation or super‐hydrophobic surfaces,6 functionalised coatings,7–10 has made them very attractive and from 2000 the literature flourished.…”