Recent developments of plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) in surface modification and engineering

Abstract

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) has been shown to be an effective technique for surface modification due to its high efficiency and large-area processing capability. In this work, the recent breakthroughs, developments and applications of PIII are presented. Works on Si-based and polymeric materials show excel surface characteristics in terms of biocompability, bioactivity, and wettability. For example, hydrogen plasma implantation into single-crystal silicon gives rise to high bioactivity and growth of apatite when immersed in SBF solutions. Amido-materials of Nylon-6 plasma implanted with a gas mixture of oxygen and nitrogen also demonstrate great improvement in the surface wetting properties due to the formation of polar functional groups of amine, alcohol and carbonyl groups. In addition, the formation of metal carbides and fluorides in fluorine-based Teflon materials by metal implantation enhances the surface energy.