Rapid Atmospheric-Pressure-Plasma-Jet Sintered Nanoporous Y2O3/Carbon Nanotube Composites

We developed an ultrafast sintering process for a conductive low-pressure-plasma-resistant Y2O3/carbon-nanotube composite using an atmospheric pressure plasma jet. The processing time can be as short as 3 to 5 s. The incorporation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) significantly improves the conductivity. N2 APPJ reacts violently with the CNTs and carbonaceous materials in the screen-printed pastes, rendering ultra-short processing. However, the synthesized films show great erosion resistance to low-pressure CHF3 inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The conductivity remains in similar level after exposing to the CHF3 ICP for 30 min. This coating can serve as a protection layer in low-pressure plasma environment. The high conductivity (>0.01 S cm-1) is advantageous in preventing arcing or charging effects in the low-pressure plasma environment.