Plasma deposition to increase adhesion
AssigneeMedtronic, Inc.
InventorGreg Garlough
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Plasma etching of a liquid dielectric material such as a polyurethane solution results in volatile byproducts that are deposited onto the surface of an inert substrate. The surface treatment increases adhesiveness so that the surface of the inert material may be bonded to another material. Portions of a medical device comprising an inert substrate such as a fluoropolymer may therefore be securely affixed to other portions of the medical device formed of polymeric, metallic, or ceramic materials.
Claims20
A method of increasing adhesiveness of an inert substrate comprising:
- locating a reservoir of a liquid dielectric material adjacent to an electrode within a plasma reaction chamber of a dielectric barrier discharge system, the electrode being one of a pair of electrodes spaced apart from one another to form a discharge gap, and at least a portion of the liquid dielectric material comprising a polymer;
- disposing the inert substrate between the pair of electrodes within the discharge gap;
- and
- establishing an electric potential between the pair of electrodes to produce a field of microdischarges across a surface of the liquid dielectric material, and to form a plasma that deposits resulting volatile byproducts of the liquid dielectric material onto at least a portion of a surface of the inert substrate.
A method of treating a surface of an inert substrate for inclusion in a medical device, the method comprising:
- locating a reservoir of a liquid dielectric material adjacent to an electrode within a plasma reaction chamber of a dielectric barrier discharge system, the electrode being one of a pair of electrodes spaced apart from one another to form a discharge gap, and at least a portion of the liquid dielectric material comprising a polymer;
- disposing the inert substrate between the pair of electrodes within the discharge gap;
- establishing an electric potential between the pair of electrodes to produce a field of microdischarges across a surface of the liquid dielectric material, and to form a plasma that deposits resulting volatile byproducts of the liquid dielectric material onto a surface of the inert substrate;
- and
- removing the deposited volatile byproducts from a portion of the surface of the inert substrate.
A method for bonding an inert substrate to a second substrate comprising:
- locating a reservoir of a liquid dielectric material adjacent to an electrode within a plasma reaction chamber of a dielectric barrier discharge system, the electrode being one of a pair of electrodes spaced apart from one another to form a discharge gap, and at least a portion of the liquid dielectric material comprising a polymer;
- disposing the inert substrate between the pair of electrodes within the discharge gap;
- establishing an electric potential between the pair of electrodes to produce a field of microdischarges across a surface of the liquid dielectric material, and to form a plasma that deposits resulting volatile byproducts of the liquid dielectric material onto a surface of the inert substrate;
- and
- bonding the surface of the inert substrate, on which the byproducts are deposited, to the second substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.