Courses on plasma science and technology will be delivered for three half-days (July 4-5, 2011) prior to the CIP 2011 Conference.

These introductory courses will cover the basics of plasma physics and plasma surface interactions, some overview of plasma assisted deposition and etching processes as well as their application in microelectronics, micro-nanotechnology, biomaterials and biosensors.

Introduction to cold non-equilibrium plasmas
T. Gans - Univ. Belfast (UK)
Intelligent exploitation of cold plasmas plays a key role in future technologies facing major challenges of society, such as energy and health. Important examples are nanoscale fabrication and bio-medical applications. This tutorial gives an introduction to cold plasmas and their exotic non-equilibrium properties. Cold plasmas are weakly ionized and most commonly produce in electrical discharges. The resulting multi-particle system consists of electrons, ions (positive & negative), excited particles, radicals, and neutral background gas. The power coupled into the plasma is predominantly absorbed by comparatively light electrons with resulting typical electron temperatures above 10000 K. Due to inefficient energy transfer between light electrons and heavy particles the heavy particle temperature remains close to room temperature. This exotic non-equilibrium nature of cold plasmas is the basis for many technologies exploiting the cold but highly reactive environment for treatments of temperature sensitive materials. General concepts of plasma production and sustainment will be discussed, examples include DC discharges and most commonly employed radio-frequency plasmas.

Sensing a plasma environment
N. Braithwaite - The Open University, Milton Keynes (UK)

This lecture will consider some of the electrical and optical techniques that are used to characterize processing plasmas. These ?technological? plasmas contain ions and electrons in almost equal numbers, neutral particles of many types in various states of excitation, and photons. The constituents are not necessarily uniformly distributed in space or in time. Significant amounts of energy are stored within the various species and the different populations are rarely in thermal equilibrium with each other. It is the rich diversity of the plasma environment that makes it such a potent medium for material-specific surface treatments ranging from etching to deposition. The interaction of a plasma with surfaces depends on its surroundings and its composition, which in turn depends on factors such as gas mixture, gas pressure and the density of electrical power that is coupled into the medium. To exercise control over plasma processes therefore one needs techniques for sensing the state of the plasma. Global and local measures of the charged components can be made by analyzing currents and voltages or impedances, using electrical probes. The chemical nature of a plasma is imprinted in the optical emission spectra and in the way it interacts with external sources (scattering and fluorescence). A number of particular implementations of these diagnostics techniques will be discussed.

Plasma chemistry, plasma surface interaction and thin film deposition in PECVD
J. Benedikt - Univ. Bochum (Germany)
Low temperature plasmas are fascinating medium where electrons, ions and reactive neutral species can coexist under a steady state but non-equilibrium conditions. Selective heating of electrons by electromagnetic fields and a slow energy transfer in elastic collisions are responsible for a large difference between electron and heavy particle temperatures. Deposition of thin films from these low temperature plasmas is interplay of several mechanisms. Energetic electrons generate reactive species in ionization, dissociation and excitation collisions with "cold" molecules. Surface reactions and surface diffusion of these reactive species result in formation of a condensate on the plasma-facing surface. Ions accelerated through the sheath on the edge of the plasma bombard the surface, modify significantly film properties and bring anisotropy into the film growth. High deposition rates and excellent and unique film properties in many applications can be achieved with these so-called Plasma Enhanced CVD processes. Basic principles of plasma chemistry, plasma/surface interaction and thin film growth will be discussed and selected examples of PECVD processes at low and atmospheric pressure will be shown in this lecture.

Physical Vapour Deposition of thin films: from DC to High-Power Impulse Magnetron
S. Konstantinidis - Univ. Mons (Belgium)
Magnetron sputtering is a well established thin film growth technique. Based upon the interaction of plasma ions with the sputtering target, magnetron sputtering allows the synthesis of functional coatings that have a strong impact in technological fields such as optics, electronics, wear resistant coatings... During this lecture, the basics of plasma - surface interactions will be described during non-reactive and reactive sputtering experiments used in the production of metal and compound coatings, respectively. Several magnetron sputtering experiments will be presented: starting from DC sputtering then moving towards DC-pulsed sputtering to finally end with the state-of-the-Art High-Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering technology. Advantages and drawbacks of each technique will be addressed. Throughout the lecture, the synthesis of titanium and titanium oxide films will be used in order to illustrate the different sputtering processes.

Plasma etching for microelectronics, MEMS, Lab-on-Chip fabrication and nanotechnology
E. Gogolides - Institute of Microelectronics IMEL, Attiki (Greece)
In this short course the principles of micro and nanopatterning will be discussed for VLSI, MEMS, and Lab-on-Chip fabrication. Methods to form a desired pattern using lithography or self-assembly will be first discussed. Plasma etching will then be introduced as a means to transfer these patterns on various substrates in the micro or nano scale. Plasma etching mechanisms, isotropic and anisotropic etching, and various process related issues will be detailed. Plasma induced roughening and plasma wall effects will be presented, paving the way to a brief discussion on plasma nano-assembly and plasma nanoscience.

Pulsed plasma applications for combustion and aerodynamics
S. Starikovskaya - Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau (France)
In recent decades particular interest in applications of nonequilibrium plasma for the problems of plasma-assisted ignition/combustion and plasma-assisted aerodynamics has been observed. A great amount of experimental data has been accumulated during this period which provided the grounds for using low temperature plasma of nonequilibrium gas discharges for a number of applications at conditions similar to automotive engines or at conditions of high speed gas flows. The purpose of the course is to summarize studies of applications of nonequilibrium plasma for combustion enhancement and for flow reattachment, to describe different plasmas considering their perspectives in mentioned applications, to consider plasma initiated chemistry and energy relaxation, and to compare, when possible, the efficiency of thermal initiation of ignition/flow rearrangement and ignition/flow rearrangement by nonequilibrium plasma.

Spotlight on dusty (or complex) plasmas
M. Mikikian - Univ. Orléans (France)
In addition to electrons, ions, atoms, and molecules, plasmas very often contain solid dust particles with sizes ranging from a few nanometers to centimeters. The presence of this additional species is at the origin of a wide variety of new plasma phenomena. Those plasmas containing dust particles constitute a highly interdisciplinary field of research called dusty (or complex) plasmas. These media are encountered in many environments such as astrophysics, industrial processes, and fusion devices.
Formation of dust particles can be easily achieved in plasma systems due to the presence of reactive gases or to material sputtering. These dust particles acquire an electric charge inducing a strong modification of the surrounding plasma properties. Dust dynamics is then governed by several forces that define the dust cloud shape and behavior. This cloud is a place where waves and instabilities can easily take place. Self-organization of the dust particles can also be observed, designing Coulomb crystals. In this lecture, we will review some of these basic features and give experimental examples.

Surface modification plasma processes of polymers and biomedical applications
P. Favia - Univ. of Bari (Italy)
Since early papers in 1969, cold plasma processes (deposition of thin films, etching, grafting of chemical groups) have heavily permeated research and application fields related to Biology and Medicine, mostly but not exclusively aiming to improve the biological response of biological entities (cells, tissues, blood, proteins, etc.) to the surface of biomaterials, in vitro and in vivo. Other topics where plasmas are being investigated and utilized since more recently are sterilization and therapy, in the emerging field of Plasma Medicine.
This lesson will provide academic insights to the matter of surface modification (low/atm pressure) plasma processes of polymers and materials (fundamentals, reactors, processes, plasma and surface diagnostics, biological evaluations) and will describe established, state of the art and desirable applications of cold plasmas in the field of Biomaterials and Biomedical devices.