An international collaboration supported by the Physics for Future (P4F) project has delivered a new diagnostic method for more precise control of plasma deposition processes. A Czech and Swedish research team combined two original approaches to plasma diagnostics to create an experimental system that helps refine the preparation of thin vanadium dioxide (VO₂) films. The method could improve the manufacture of thermochromic coatings for smart windows, as well as semiconductor and optical thin films used, for example, in optical sensors, detectors and photonic devices.
The project builds on a long-standing collaboration between researchers at the Institute of Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Linköping University. At the Institute of Physics, researchers developed a radio-frequency (RF) probe to measure plasma parameters. Professor Daniel Lundin’s team in Sweden proposed using the magnetron target itself as a diagnostic probe during the deposition process. Combining these two approaches produced a unique experimental system that makes it possible to monitor the plasma process without intervening in the deposition chamber.
The Physics for Future initiative provided a further important impetus for the collaboration. Through the initiative, postdoctoral researcher Xiao Li joined the Institute of Physics, where she collected an extensive dataset on plasma behaviour during the preparation of vanadium dioxide films using the joint experimental system. Analysis of the data enabled a better understanding of the physical relationships governing the process and showed which plasma parameters best indicate its stability and can be used to control it more precisely.
More about the new diagnostis method can be found in the article here.
