Kyoichi Yamamoto, Takahiro Harada, Noritoshi Tomikawa, Haruo Uyama
Sung-Chae Yang* and Hiroshi Fujiyama*

Technical Research Institute, Toppan Printing Co.Ltd.
Sugito, Saitama 345-8508 Japan
Kyoichi.Yamamoto@toppan.co.jp

*Faculty of Engineering, Nagasaki University
Bunkyo, Nagasaki 852-8131 Japan

In the web coating process of some materials using sputtering, plasma-assisted evaporation, and plasma-enhanced CVD, heat damage of polymer substrates by plasma irradiation is problem for the quality of products. During deposition, the substrate is heated by condensation of deposits, heat from the source or plasmas, and so on. However, it is difficult to distinguish these processes and the change of the temperature plasma irradiation must be minimized. In this paper, we have researched the effect of discharge conditions on the plasma heating of the polymer substrate independently of the other heat sources. The Ar and O2 plasmas were created by AC discharge with magnetic field using web coater as described in the previous paper [1]. PET (Polyethylene terephtalate) substrate was passed through the plasma region at different conditions, such as web speed, discharge power, and pressure. The temperature of the substrate was measured using thermosenser before and after passing through the plasma region. In ordinary case, the temperature of the substrate increased immediately when the substrate entered the plasma region and had the maximum at the center of the plasma region. When the power input increased, the temperature slightly increased in both plasmas. Pressure also affected the increment of the substrate temperature. The change of the web speed influenced upon the residence time of the substrate in the plasma region. The change of the substrate temperature when the web speed changed was seemed to be larger than those when the power input and pressure changed. In this experimental conditions, although the temperature change of the substrate were 5-10 degree, this would not ignore for the polymer substrate. The change of the substrate temperature passing through plasma region will be discussed together with the results of plasma diagnostics and some the surface analysis of the substrate.

[1] S.C.Yang, K.Yamamoto, H.Uyama, and H.Fujiyama, SPP-15 (1998).