Cleaning with plasma has proved to be a safe, effective and environmentally friendly surface preparation method in numerous manufacturing applications. More manufacturers are choosing this method over traditional surface cleaning methods, as it’s easy to integrate into existing in-line processes without adding time or extra steps.

Plasma cleaning is ideal for any manufacturing operation looking to reduce costs, streamline operational efficiency and improve product quality. Understanding plasma cleaning and its benefits is essential for anyone looking to minimize contamination and find a more effective and versatile alternative to traditional wet cleaning methods.

What Is Plasma Cleaning Used for?

Plasma cleaning is highly effective in removing organic contaminants from substrates when used following bulk cleaning. The process transforms a gas, such as argon, into plasma through ionization in atmospheric conditions. The plasma cleans the surface, resulting in a substrate that is free from microscopic contaminants that could impact bonding and adhesion in secondary operations.

Plasma cleaning is a dry process that offers the ability to clean and activate surfaces in complex manufacturing scenarios, making it the preferred method for the following applications:

• Electronics manufacturing: Plasma cleaning removes organic residues and other contaminants from sensitive electronic components and printed circuit boards before assembly, ensuring proper soldering and coating adhesion.
• Semiconductor industry: Microelectronics manufacturing requires high levels of surface purity. Plasma cleaning is essential to semiconductor packaging, removing oxidation and contamination from bond pads and activating glass films for direct fusion bonding.
• Medical device manufacturing: Plasma cleaning is crucial for sterilizing medical devices before use. It also improves wetting to polymers and other materials for precision dispensing biological media onto various surfaces.
• Aerospace and automotive: Product quality is essential in these high-precision industries. Plasma cleaning ensures thorough surface preparation for bonding and coating, providing strong adhesion and improving product quality.

Understanding the Plasma Cleaning Process

Plasma cleaning involves generating plasma by introducing an electric field or energy into a gas, causing it to ionize into a mixture of free electrons and ions.

Historically, manufacturers have carried out plasma cleaning in a vacuum chamber or similar controlled environment. Gas like argon, oxygen, hydrogen or helium is added to the chamber before the electrical field or energy is then introduced.

High-voltage atmospheric plasmas are another conventional approach. This process involves energetic electrons and highly reactive radicals interacting with the surface.

Both traditional plasma cleaning approaches introduce some challenges. Ion bombardment in vacuum plasma cleaning can damage more delicate component surfaces. Similarly, high-voltage atmospheric plasma generates electron interactions that can cause an electrostatic discharge (ESD) event and harm electro-sensitive components like microelectronics and semiconductor wafers.

A newer and more innovative approach to plasma cleaning resolves these challenges — generating argon plasma with an oxygen process gas mixture at atmospheric pressure. There is no vacuum chamber and no high-voltage plasma to create ESD.

8 Plasma Cleaning Benefits for Manufacturing Operations

Adding plasma cleaning to existing manufacturing processes provides significant benefits.

1. Achieving High-Precision and Repeatable Results

Precision and high repeatability are crucial for industries like electronics, medical devices and aerospace, where consistency and accuracy are imperative. Plasma cleaning offers a baseline and uniform clean that can improve quality and process control for downstream operations, such as bonding.

2. Improving Bond Performance

One of the most significant benefits of plasma cleaning is that it improves surface wettability and bond performance in later manufacturing processes. Unwanted contaminants can interfere with bond interactions or adhesives. Removing these contaminants before bonding helps increase bond strength, which improves product quality, yield and life span. Clean surfaces also require less bond strength or pressure.

3. Reducing Waste

Contaminants can reduce wettability, leading to adhesive or coating issues such as bubbling or fish eyes. These challenges can cause low production yields and high consumable costs. Adding plasma as a cleaning step improves wettability, resulting in fewer scrapped products, reduced consumable expenses and increased coating and adhesive performance.

4. Minimizing Hazards and Maintaining Sustainable Processes

Chemical cleaning processes often generate volatile organic compounds. These chemicals are expensive and pose a significant risk to operators.

Plasma cleaning eliminates the need for harmful cleaning chemicals. It provides a dry and environmentally friendly alternative while maintaining superior results. Removing chemicals from the cleaning process also makes this method suitable for surfaces impacted by solvent cleaning and eliminates the cost and risk of storing and disposing of chemical waste.

5. Enhancing Cleaning Effectiveness Without Affecting the Substrate Surface

The substrate’s bulk properties remain unchanged after the process is complete. It’s a much gentler method than other surface cleaning treatments, enabling the removal of contaminants from a surface without losing any of the material’s critical traits.

As it’s a relatively non-aggressive cleaning method, plasma cleaning is ideal for various expensive or sensitive surfaces, including semiconductors, glass, optical fiber and metal surfaces.

6. Achieving Complete Cleaning of All Surfaces

A plasma cleaning system provides thorough surface cleaning and effective contaminant removal. The process is ideal for cleaning surfaces with complex geometries, including recessed areas.

7. Simplifying Integration Into Existing Production Lines

Plasma cleaning solutions are easy to integrate into existing automated production lines, saving time and space while increasing operational efficiency.

8. Reducing Costs

Plasma cleaning requires a comparatively low equipment investment compared to similar technologies. It’s a cost-effective option for improving production throughput without sacrificing quality control. In the long term, costs can be reduced by minimizing the number of faulty components and eliminating the use, storage and disposal of hazardous chemicals.

Plasma cleaning is also quicker than manual cleaning, resulting in faster production times. Removing unwanted impurities from surfaces before processes reduces downtime, resulting in lower costs per unit.

Explore the Benefits of Plasma Cleaning With Surfx Technologies

Manufacturing success relies on integrating innovative technologies to boost efficiency and product quality. Plasma cleaning offers considerable benefits for a wide range of industries and applications.

Surfx Technologies revolutionizes plasma cleaning with a patented approach of argon plasma and an oxygen process gas mixture. The result is elevated product quality with highly effective organic contaminant removal and reduced potential for parts or surface damage — perfect for sensitive components in today’s most demanding industries. Our innovative process also supports continuous production, helping save time and money.

Our automatic plasma machines and products can transform operations for manufacturers of high-volume electronic components, medical devices, and automotive and aerospace electronics. Work with us to create the highest-quality products consumers can trust.

Contact us to learn more about how plasma cleaning can streamline your operations. Alternatively, request a demo today to experience the potential firsthand.