*Gerhard Eichenhofer¹, Johannes Gruenwald², Martin Fenker³, Martin Balzer
¹4A-PLASMA, Holzgerlingen, Germany; ² Gruenwald Laboratories, Taxenbach, Austria; ³FEM, Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany
An increasing demand of film quality with a clearly higher energy efficiency is the requirement of future coatings. get*-plasma an evolutionary step of the inverted fireball technology is the direct track leading to fulfil these challenges. Inverted fireballs (IFBs), are a recently discovered plasma phenomenon that can be created in low temperature plasmas over a wide range of working gas pressures. Experiments show that a substantial ionisation increase in plasma processing is feasible. IFBs are suitable for surface modifications in general and for deposition technologies in particular. A highly homogeneous plasma potential and high charge densities make thin film modifications possible for complex shaped substrates as well as for large areas. This work will outline how an increase in ionisation will reflect in a substantially higher energy efficiency and properties of coatings. Given that a number of plasma instabilities may arise, a stabilisation of plasma for a long period of time can be achieved. It will also be shown where to find the limitations of IFB research at the moment and what needs to be done to gain a deeper scientific understanding. First test results for industry relevant coatings and an outlook into future commercial applications will be given.