DEPOSITION OF Al2O3 POWDERS USING NANO-PARTICLE DEPOSITION SYSTEM

In this paper, alumina film was deposited using supersonic micronozzle in nano-particle deposition System (NPDS). Powder deposition at room temperature is important in the field of film deposition since high processing temperature can be a serious limitation for the deposition on flexible substrate. Previously, many studies have been reported on particle deposition, such as aerosol deposition method (ADM) or cold spray method. However, these deposition methods cannot be applied to various types of powders. Recently, NPDS using aluminum nozzle was designed to resolve these problems but it cannot deposit precise patterns less than 1 mm. In this study, alumina particles were deposited using Silicon-based micronozzle in NPDS. Three-dimensional silicon micronozzle was fabricated using semiconductor processing method, specifically deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) method. The silicon micronozzle fabricated by Bosch process is advantageous over the conventionally used nozzle, since the hardness of silicon is higher than that of aluminum and the lifetime can be increased. In this study, alumina nano-particles were accelerated to supersonic level at the neck of micronozzle and deposited on the substrate in a low vacuum condition. The film characteristics were evaluated using field-emission scanning electronic microscope (FE-SEM) and alpha step to measure its thickness of the deposited layer. The deposition result showed that alumina powders were successfully deposited using the fabricated micronozzle by means of NPDS.