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A simple and ecological method developed by Plasmatreat to clean any type of surface, Openair-Plasma is a plasma activation process for surface treatment, allowing efficient, fast and affordable surface modification without changing its mechanical properties.
In the field of electronics, and more than ever, having safe and durable components is a key success factor and it will become more so in the future as electronic products continue to grow in importance in our daily operation.
Based on this observation, and with its recognized expertise, Plasmatreat wishes to provide manufacturers in the sector with an essential contribution to the design of high-performance and sustainable products by specifically developing adapted surface treatment solutions. Thanks to its Openair-Plasma technology, Plasmatreat aims to help electronics professionals achieve even higher component quality with optimized surfaces, even for the most sensitive.
A wide range of applications for the treatment of sensitive electronic surfaces
Plasmatreat's Openair-Plasma technology offers a wide range of applications in electronic manufacturing: from component production to module assembly and subsequent construction of electronic devices. Focus on three of them:
The manufacture of LEDs
A specific area in which Openair-Plasma plays an important new role is the manufacture of LEDs. The use of a nano-coating in the LED manufacturing process makes it possible to use material substitutes and eliminate steps in the process.
In addition, the PlasmaPlus process developed by Plasmatreat can be successfully used in the wire welding process in the manufacture of LEDs. This is because this welding process often generates contaminated wire bonding surfaces when the chip adhesive hardens, as the adhesive "bleeds" at high temperatures, and has a negative impact on the surface quality of the bond. An "anti-bleeding" nano-coating created through the PlasmaPlus process will prevent the adhesive from bleeding and will simultaneously increase the reliability of the wire contact.
The production of assemblies
The increasing miniaturization and thus the compactness of electronic components also leads to greater use of the Openair-Plasma system in the production of assemblies, especially when PCB assemblies are used in increasingly demanding environments. Under these conditions, the assemblies must operate absolutely flawlessly and reliably. This means that it is becoming increasingly important to protect electronics from environmental influences, including the most sensitive surfaces.
For example, for electronics and sensor components in automotive engineering, the AntiCorr anti-corrosion coating developed by Plamatreat is selectively applied as a nano-coating on the adhesive and sealing grooves of metal components. This process provides reliable long-term protection against the incursion of moisture and the resulting corrosion.
Final assembly
Another area of application is final assembly, for example when parts are glued with adhesive. This may involve connecting enclosures to electronic components or attaching touch screens to position in a device. In this case too, plasma processing makes it possible to create a bond between materials that would otherwise be difficult to connect. The use of the Openair-Plasma process helps to clean and activate surfaces, and provides extremely durable and robust bonds between materials.
A fully automated online system for the selective pre-treatment of sensitive surfaces that meets the new challenges of electronics and Industry 4.0
The current shortage of parts, in particular, leads to a focus on cycle-time optimized manufacturing processes in semiconductor production. From this point of view, the speed of manufacture of semiconductor components is just as important as the accuracy of production and the quality of the product.
In order to meet these growing challenges, Plasmatreat has recently developed a fully automated online system for selective pre-processing with Openair-Plasma that is designed according to market requirements. In addition, Plasmatreat continues to refine its quality standards and uses its PCU (Plasma Control Unit) and associated quality assurance modules to continuously monitor critical and important parameters of all stages of plasma processing.
Thus, in the era of Industry 4.0 where the requirements for process safety and reproducibility are constantly increasing, Plasmatreat allows manufacturers to benefit from an adaptable, potential-free, optimized and reproducible high-speed processing that can be seamlessly integrated into an existing manufacturing line.
Openair-Plasma, a relevant, safe and environmentally friendly technology that reduces the impact of the shortage of parts and components.
A number of specific factors make the use of Openair-Plasma increasingly relevant: new safety standards, as in automotive manufacturing; environmental regulations and guidelines, such as those encouraging solvent avoidance; and very recent problems such as shortages of parts and components.
Indeed, this technology offers the advantage of ensuring compliance with safety standards, the reduction of VOC emissions during the processing of components, the reduction of discharges to almost zero and the minimization of environmental impacts.
