A method of producing a printed electronic device on a thin PDMS film which includes coupling a first layer of a water-soluble polymer to a substrate and drying the first layer of the water-soluble polymer. The method further includes coupling a second layer of a crosslinkable PDMS polymer to the first layer of the water-soluble polymer and curing the second layer of the crosslinkable PDMS polymer to form the thin PDMS film. The method also includes printing one or more functional layers on the thin PDMS film and drying the one or more functional layers on the thin PDMS film to form the printed electronic device coupled to the substrate.

Methods and systems are provided for fabricating polymer-based imprint lithography templates having thin metallic or oxide coated patterning surfaces. Such templates show enhanced fluid spreading and filling (even in absence of purging gases), good release properties, and longevity of use. Methods and systems for fabricating oxide coated versions, in particular, can be performed under atmospheric pressure conditions, allowing for lower cost processing and enhanced throughput.

Device surfaces are rendered superhydrophobic and/or superoleophobic through microstructures and/or nanostructures that utilize the same base material(s) as the device itself without the need for coatings made from different materials or substances. A medical device includes a portion made from a base material having a surface adapted for contact with biological material, and wherein the surface is modified to become superhydrophobic, superoleophobic, or both, using only the base material, excluding non-material coatings. The surface may be modified using a subtractive process, an additive process, or a combination thereof. The product of the process may form part of an implantable device or a medical instrument, including a medical device or instrument associated with an intraocular procedure. The surface may be modified to include micrometer- or nanometer-sized pillars, posts, pits or cavitations; hierarchical structures having asperities; or posts/pillars with caps having dimensions greater than the diameters of the posts or pillars.

Device surfaces are rendered superhydrophobic and/or superoleophobic through microstructures and/or nanostructures that utilize the same base material(s) as the device itself without the need for coatings made from different materials or substances. A medical device includes a portion made from a base material having a surface adapted for contact with biological material, and wherein the surface is modified to become superhydrophobic, superoleophobic, or both, using only the base material, excluding non-material coatings. The surface may be modified using a subtractive process, an additive process, or a combination thereof. The product of the process may form part of an implantable device or a medical instrument, including a medical device or instrument associated with an intraocular procedure. The surface may be modified to include micrometer- or nanometer-sized pillars, posts, pits or cavitations; hierarchical structures having asperities; or posts/pillars with caps having dimensions greater than the diameters of the posts or pillars.

A method for preparing a patterned substrate includes selectively etching any one segment block of a self-assembled block copolymer from a laminate having a substrate; wherein a block copolymer membrane is formed on the substrate and the substrate contains the self-assembled block copolymer. According to the method, the self-assembled pattern of the block copolymer can be efficiently and accurately transferred on the substrate to prepare a patterened substate.

A method for preparing a patterned substrate includes selectively etching any one segment block of a self-assembled block copolymer from a laminate having a substrate; wherein a block copolymer membrane is formed on the substrate and the substrate contains the self-assembled block copolymer. According to the method, the self-assembled pattern of the block copolymer can be efficiently and accurately transferred on the substrate to prepare a patterened substate.

A plug-in connector module for a modular industrial plug-in connector is provided, wherein the plug-in connector module has a housing with a housing surface, wherein the housing consists substantially of plastic, wherein the plug-in connector module has at least one electrical contact element, wherein the housing has at least one contact chamber with a contact chamber surface, wherein the at least one electrical contact element is arranged in the contact chamber, wherein at least a portion of the contact chamber surface and/or at least a portion of the housing surface are/is plasma-modified. A method for producing a plug-in connector module of an industrial plug-in connector is also provided and includes: producing a plastics housing with a housing surface and at least one contact chamber for receiving a contact element, modifying at least a portion of the housing surface and/or at least a portion of the contact chamber surface with an atmospheric pressure plasma with a working gas being fed in.

Methods of bonding substrates are provided, including forming a thin film of a metal oxide on a bonding surface of both or either of a pair of substrates, at least one of which is a transparent substrate, and contacting the bonding surfaces of the pair of substrates with each other via the thin film of the metal oxide.

A method for etching a layer of assembled block copolymer including first and second polymer phases, the etching method including a first step of etching by a first plasma formed from carbon monoxide or a first gas mixture including a fluorocarbon gas and a depolymerising gas, the first etching step being carried out so as to partially etch the first polymer phase and to deposit a carbon layer on the second polymer phase, and a second step of etching by a second plasma formed from a second gas mixture including a depolymerising gas and a gas selected among the carbon oxides and the fluorocarbon gases, the second etching step being carried out so as to etch the first polymer phase and the carbon layer on the second polymer phase.

A method for plasma treating a surface of a first substrate is disclosed. The method may comprise generating a plasma flume using a plasma treatment device having a nozzle. The plasma flume may emanate through a flume aperture of the nozzle at an emanation angle of about 5 degrees or less. The emanation angle may be defined as an angle between a central axis of the nozzle and a central axis of the flume aperture. The method may further comprise plasma treating the surface of the first substrate with the plasma flume by scanning the plasma flume over the surface of the first substrate. The first substrate may be one of a consolidated thermoplastic material and a cured thermoset material.