The piezoresistivity of flame-sprayed NiCoCrAlTaY on an electrically insulated surface of a steel substrate was investigated through cyclic extension and compression cycles between 0 and 0.4 mm for 1000 cycles and uniaxial tensile test. The sprayed NiCoCrAlTaY was in grid form with grid thickness of 3 mm and grid length of 30 mm while the electrical insulation was fabricated by flame spraying alumina on the surface of the steel. During mechanical loading, instantaneous electrical resistance measurements were conducted to evaluate the corresponding relative resistance change. Images of the loaded samples were captured for strain calculations through Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique. After consolidation of the pores within the coating, the behavior of the flame-sprayed NiCoCrAlTaY was consistent and linear within the cyclic compression and extension limits, with strain values of approximately -1000 με and +1700 με, respectively. The coating had a consistent and steady maximum relative resistance change of approximately 5% within both limits. The tensile test revealed that the coating has two gauge factors due to the bi-linearity of the plot of relative resistance change against strain. The progression of damage within the coating layers was analyzed from its piezoresistive response and through back-scattered scanning electron microscopy images. Based on the results, the nickel alloy showed high piezoresistive sensitivity for the duration of the loading cycles, with little or no damage to the coating layers. These results suggest that the flame-sprayed nickel alloy coating has great potential as a surface damage detection sensor.

This study assesses the influence of particle size and spray parameters on the structural, mechanical, and electrical insulation properties of alumina coatings deposited by atmospheric plasma spraying. It has been found that the combination of a relatively fine feedstock powder and high velocity plasma spraying promotes the formation of denser coatings with high dielectric strength. Correlations between dielectric strength and deposition efficiency, coating hardness, crystal structure, and surface roughness are also assessed.

In order to meet the increased requirements for power electronics in the automotive sector, an effective utilization of difficult installation spaces is necessary. A new production concept to realize this 3D integration of electronic circuit boards directly on components is the combination of thermal spraying and cold gas spraying to create multilayer-coating systems consisting of conducting and insulating coatings. In this study two- and tree-dimensional demonstrators were developed, showing the flexible use of thermal spraying in mechatronics and power electronics. In contrast to past studies on this construction concept, the main focus of this study was on the optimization of the ceramic insulting coatings and bond strength of the metallization. The ceramic coatings showed a dielectric strength and electrical resistance, which was suitable for most applications. Additional post treatment improved the electrical resistance in humid conditions. Already 150 µm thick electrical insulation layers showed a breakdown voltage of more than 5 kV AC and a specific electrical resistance of 5.1011 Ω.m.

This work investigates the properties of insulating coatings deposited by HVOF and atmospheric plasma spraying and the effects of various sealants. It is shown that adhesive tensile strength depends strongly on surface roughness and that the dielectric strength of a material is normally higher in the unsealed state. In the case of a new sealant, however, the dielectric strength of HVOF sprayed alumina coatings is shown to be higher in the sealed state, which potentially opens new applications in high-performance electronics.

This study compares the dielectric properties of annealed forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) and alumina coatings deposited on mild steel substrates by atmospheric plasma spraying. As-sprayed coating samples were electrically characterized then submitted to a series of one-hour annealing treatments at temperatures from 300 to 800 °F. After each treatment, impedance measurements were recorded over a frequency range of 30 to 100 kHz. An electrical model was fitted to Nyquist data (Im Z vs. Re Z) using a least-mean-square algorithm with a weighting function. Although impedance spectroscopy measurements were obtained at different temperatures, this paper focuses on the acquisition, modeling, and comparison of room temperature properties, particularly electrical resistivity and dielectric constant. It also compares the microstructure of as-sprayed and annealed forsterite and alumina coatings and discusses coating degradation mechanisms stemming from differences in CTE.

Alumina and chromia coatings were deposited on steel substrates by detonation spraying in order to determine the effect of spray parameters on adhesion, hardness, porosity, and dielectric strength. Test results show that both coatings have low porosity, high hardness, and good adhesion strength and that both can be effective as wear-resistant electrically insulating layers on metal parts.

In this work, alumina coatings are produced by atmospheric plasma spraying using dry-ice blasting to prepare substrate surfaces. Feedstock powder and coating microstructure are examined and dielectric strength and ac-dc breakdown voltages are measured. The results show that dry-ice blasting improves the dielectric properties of alumina coatings produced by atmospheric plasma spraying.

In this work, alumina coatings are produced by air plasma spraying (APS) using dense powders ranging in size from 3 to 36 µm and one porous powder with an average particle size of 33 µm. Two spray systems were used, one rated at 40 kW, the other at 100 kW. The powders were applied to grit-blasted Al 6061 and low-carbon steel substrates. Coatings applied to Al 6061 using the high-power sprayer and 3 µm powder peeled off, likely due to thermal shock and mismatch. For all other coatings, the microstructure was examined by cross-sectional SEM, porosity was estimated via optical microscopy, and dielectric strength and volume resistivity were measured. Coatings formed from 3 µm powder were found to be dense with a mostly γ-phase crystal structure. Surprisingly, however, their volume resistivity was lower than that of more porous coatings with high amounts of α-phase. The findings show that, in the case of resistivity, spray equipment has a bigger influence than particle size, but with coating density, the opposite is true.

Thermal spray coatings are used for a broad range of purposes in the semiconductor equipment industry. A primary use of thermal spray coatings for thin film applications is to provide surfaces on process chamber components that promote particle reduction and contamination control during chamber operations. Coatings are also used to provide the desired dielectric properties for critical components such as electrostatic chucks (ESC) and heater pedestals; to prove chemical and corrosion-resistance for process kit components and showerheads; as well as serving a wide range of other purposes. This paper reviews future needs for thermal spray coatings in semiconductor equipment and identifies some of today’s coating challenges. Areas discussed include coating design considerations; chemical, corrosion and plasma erosion issues influencing the selection of materials, coatings and processes. Brief discussion will be provided for future anticipated needs in materials, coatings, processing and the manufacture of thermal spray coatings for such applications.

In this work, completely ceramic heating elements have been developed by the combination of conductive and insulating thermally sprayed oxide coatings. These heating elements with a total thickness of less than 1 mm have been directly applied on metallic substrates. APS- and HVOF-sprayed Al 2 O 3 and spinel (MgAl 2 O 4 ) coatings were employed for insulation. A comparative analysis of the insulating properties (dielectric strength, electrical resistivity) of these coatings is presented. The HVOF-sprayed spinel coatings show better dielectric breakdown strength and higher electrical resistance stability. TiO x , TiO 2 -10%Cr 2 O 3 and TiO 2 -20%Cr 2 O 3 powders have been used to prepare the electrical conductive coatings. The thermal and oxidation stabilities at high temperature, as well the electrical properties have been investigated. Addition of Cr 2 O 3 reduced the oxidation rate of titanium oxide and increased the operational temperature of the heating coating. A ceramic heater consisting of spinel coating as insulator and TiO 2 - 20Cr 2 O 3 as conductor was sprayed on a metallic roller and the electrical stability during the long-term (300h) thermo-cycling (from RT to 300°C) was successfully tested.

In this paper the characteristics (microstructure, phase compositions) and electrical insulating properties of thermally sprayed alumina coatings produced by suspension-HVOF (S-HVOF) process and conventional HVOF spray method are compared. The electrical resistance (electrical resistivity) and dielectric strength were investigated using DC-electrical resistance measurements, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and dielectric breakdown test. The electrical resistance was determined at room temperature at different relative air humidity (RH) levels, from 6% RH up to 97% RH. Differences in the electrical insulating properties due to the different coating characteristics are discussed. The suspension-sprayed Al 2 O 3 coatings showed better electrical resistance stability at high humidity levels (> 75% RH), which could be explained by a specific microstructure and retention of a higher content of α-Al 2 O 3 . Nonetheless, the values of dielectric breakdown voltage and dielectric strength recorded for suspension sprayed coatings were lower than those of HVOF coatings.

In this investigation, titanium dioxide and hydroxyapatite (HA) suspensions are plasma sprayed onto stainless steel, titanium, and aluminum substrates and the structure and properties of the resulting layers are correlated with spraying conditions. The suspensions were formulated with fine TiO 2 pigment and HA milled from spray-dried powder or synthesized from calcium nitrate and ammonium phosphate. In some experiments, an atomizer was used to inject the suspensions into the plasma jet, and in others, the suspensions were fed into the jet using continuous stream injection. The deposits are characterized on the basis of morphology, chemical and phase composition, scratch hardness, and dielectric strength.

BaTiO 3 coatings are very promising for a wide range of applications in microelectronics because of their high dielectric constant and low leakage current. In this study, atmospheric plasma spraying is used to produce thick BaTiO 3 coatings and their microstructural features and dielectric properties are examined. The coatings were mainly composed of amorphous phase with small amounts of crystalline phase due to the incorporation of partially-molten droplets. The as-sprayed coatings were crystallized to BaTiO 3 by low temperature heat treatment and a mixture of BaTiO 3 and BaTi 2 O 5 at higher temperatures. At 1200 °C, the coating formed an equiaxed grain structure due to sintering effects and the dielectric constant was significantly improved.

The technique was examined to prevent errors during thermal spraying by setting up a spray on-line monitoring system (Spray Watch-2i System) at the starting position in the production line using plasma spraying, and monitoring the characteristics of the particles in the plasma flame between each spraying cycle. The tests were carried out with several spray conditions, changing the gas flow, and the arc current. The state of the plasma flame was measured as the velocity, temperature and flux density of the flying particles. The coating properties were then evaluated by measuring the dielectric breakdown test. It has been found that the evaluation result of the coating correlates very well with the monitoring results of the flame particle characteristics. Therefore there is a possibility that monitoring the state of the particle characteristics within the flame during spraying can control the coating characteristics comparatively easily.

Physical characteristics of Atmospheric Plasma Sprayed (APS) Alumina coating and Low Pressure Plasma Sprayed (VPS) Alumina coating were investigated. High purity Alumina powder was used for thermal spraying in this test. As electrical properties, the volume resistivity, dielectric constant, and the dielectric breakdown voltage were measured at R.T. to 873K. And the coefficient of thermal expansion, and the thermal conductivity were measured at also R.T. to 873K, as thermal properties. Mechanical properties, such as the Young’s modulus, the bending strength, and the cross-sectional hardness value were measured at R.T. As a test result, the Alumina coatings using both APS and VPS have similar properties except for the cross-sectional hardness value that was higher when sprayed by VPS.

Porosity is a key feature of thermally-sprayed coating microstructure. Porosity is made of pores and cracks of various orientations. Both pores and cracks can be intralamellar or interlamellar due to coating build-up which leads to lamellae from impinging of droplets. Pores are interconnected with cracks, which results in a 3-dimensional porosity network. Direct observation of this network is intricate and remains somewhat limited. A 3-dimensional simulation of this network was therefore developed in this work based on the building-up of objects which simulated the lamellae in the sprayed microstructure. These objects were constructed from morphological measurements using confocal microscopy of actual lamellae, i.e. “splats”, obtained from “linescan”-typed plasma-sprayed experiments. This simulation, in the lamella building-up, involves randomly cracks and pores the characteristics of which (i.e. content, orientation, size, …) were determined from thorough quantitative image analysis of cross-section plasma-sprayed alumina microstructures. Using 3-dimensional images resulting from the simulation, finite element calculations were performed to study dielectric properties of plasma-sprayed alumina as a function of porosity. The influence of anisotropy is discussed in particular and calculated values compared to experimental values.

This paper examines the dielectric properties of silicate coatings including mullite (3Al 2 O 3 -2SiO 2 ), steatite (MgSiO3), spodumene (Li 2 O-Al 2 O 3 -4SiO 2 ), and olivine with near-forsterite (Mg 2 SiO 4 ) composition. The materials were sprayed using a water-stabilized plasma gun and the deposits were removed from the substrate, polished, and sputtered with aluminum on both sides. Electrical tests consisting of voltage, resistance, and capacitance measurements showed that the relative conductivity of plasma-sprayed silicates is stable between 200 Hz and 1 MHz, which is suitable for many insulation applications. Paper includes a German-language abstract.

Ceramic oxides can be deposited by the High Frequency Pulse Detonation process leading to coatings with unique properties as result of simultaneous melting and high velocities of the sprayed particles. In this paper, several Al 2 O 3 based powders have been HFPD sprayed and the resulting coatings characterized. For this purpose, microstructural evaluation, XRD phase analysis and functional behavior (dielectric strength and wear resistance) have been tested.

BaTiO3 has been successfully sprayed by HVOF to produce dense 25-150 µm thick deposits for use as dielectric and capacitive layers within prototype multilayer conformal electronics. Parameter optimization has been shown to play a critical role in the effective spraying of these materials as thin structurally homogeneous deposits. The affect of standoff distance and combustion chamber size on the phase structure of the coatings have been studied and related to the dielectric properties of the layer. The proportion of crystalline to amorphous phase was found to be critically dependent upon the degree of melting of the particles in the flame and the rate of cooling of the deposits. The crystalline/amorphous ratio is directly related to the dielectric properties of the layer with greater crystallinity giving higher values of dielectric constant. Microcracks and splat/splat interfaces are also believed to adversely affect the dielectric properties. The maximum dielectric constant (K) values achieved using the HVOF method for deposition have been in the range 70-115.

This paper presents the results of metal dielectric multilayer structures based on aluminum alloys and several oxide ceramics respectively. It investigates thermomechanical and dielectric properties with regard to the use of different powders for thermal spraying as well as a high and a low energy gun for atmospheric spraying. The experimental work of this study is divided into two main parts: the selection of materials and the development of promising coating systems and the manufacturing and testing of novel ozonizer tubes. The investigated coating systems are analysed focusing the application in ozonizers. Therefore, a metallic electrode, an oxide ceramic and the dielectric properties of the metal-ceramic-composite are analysed. Finally, the appropriate metal-ceramic composites are tested in an ozonizer. Paper includes a German-language abstract.