Plasma equipment for treating powder

Abstract

A powder plasma processing apparatus is disclosed. The powder plasma processing apparatus is a powder plasma processing apparatus of a circular surface discharge plasma module, and the apparatus includes a plate-like electrode layer serving as an external surface of the circular surface discharge plasma module, an insulating layer disposed on an internal surface of the plate-like electrode layer, and a plasma generating electrode disposed on the insulating layer, wherein the circular surface discharge plasma module rotates, an alternating voltage is applied to the plasma generating electrode and the plate-like electrode layer to generate plasma around the plasma generating electrode, and a powder for plasma processing is processed by the plasma within the circular surface discharge plasma module.

Claims

1. A method of processing a powder using a powder surface processing apparatus of a rotary cylindrical surface discharge plasma module: the apparatus comprising: a plate-like electrode layer serving as an external surface of the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module; an insulating layer disposed on an internal surface of the plate-like electrode layer; and a plurality of plasma generating electrodes in the form of a bar which are disposed on the insulating layer at intervals, wherein the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module is configured to rotate and the plate-like electrode layer, insulating layer, and plurality of plasma generating electrodes are configured to rotate with the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module, the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module is configured to apply an alternating voltage to the plurality of plasma generating electrodes and the plate-like electrode layer to generate plasma around the plurality of plasma generating electrodes, and the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module is configured to position a powder on the plasma generating electrodes and treat the surface of the powder by the generated plasma, wherein the apparatus comprises a driving unit configured to rotate the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module while the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module is in a horizontal state; and the method comprising: generating a plasma with the plasma generating electrodes of the powder surface processing apparatus; rotating the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module, plate-like electrode layer, insulating layer, and plurality of plasma generating electrodes; and contacting a powder with the plasma generated from the rotating plasma generating electrodes.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plasma is generated from a plasma reaction gas injected into the surface discharge plasma module.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plasma reaction gas comprises an inert gas and a gas containing oxygen, fluorine, or chlorine.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the inert gas comprises Ar or N.sub.2.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the gas containing oxygen comprises O.sub.2 or N.sub.2O.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the gas containing fluorine comprises CF.sub.4 or SF.sub.6.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the gas containing chlorine comprises Cl.sub.2 or BCl.sub.3.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein a high voltage is applied to the plate-like electrode layer, and the plurality of plasma generating electrodes are ground electrodes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a high voltage is applied to the plurality of plasma generating electrodes, and the plate-like electrode layer is a ground electrode.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the plasma generating electrodes are arranged on the insulating layer at intervals in the circumferential direction of the surface discharge plasma module, and extend in the longitudinal direction of the surface discharge plasma module.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of the plasma generating electrodes are arranged on the insulating layer at intervals in the longitudinal direction of the surface discharge plasma module, and extend in the circumferential direction of the surface discharge plasma module.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the driving unit includes a rotational speed control unit configured to control the speed at which the driving unit rotates the cylindrical surface discharge plasma module.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art by describing in detail exemplary embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

(2) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a surface discharge plasma module of a powder plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention;

(3) FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1; and

(4) FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating another example of the arrangement in which ground electrodes of the powder plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention are arranged

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

(5) A powder plasma processing apparatus according to embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The present invention may be subjected to many changes and have several forms, and specific embodiments thereof are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the specification. However, it will be understood that the present invention is not intended to be limited to the specific forms set forth herein, and all changes, equivalents, and substitutions included in the technical scope and spirit of the present invention are included. Referring to the drawings, similar reference numerals are used to refer to similar components. In the accompanying drawings, the dimensions of the structures may be exaggerated for clarity.

(6) Terms such as first, second, and the like may be used to describe various components, but these components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another component. For instance, a first component may be referred to as a second component, or similarly, a second component may be referred to as a first component, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

(7) Terms used herein are intended to only explain specific embodiments of the present invention, not to limit the invention. The singular forms a, an and the are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be understood that the terms comprises or have, when used in this specification, are intended to specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, components, a combination thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, components, or a combination thereof.

(8) Unless otherwise defined herein, all terms used in the present invention including technical or scientific terms have the same meanings as terms that are generally understood by those skilled in the art related to the field of the present invention. The same terms as those that are defined in a general dictionary should be understood to have the same meanings as contextual meanings of the related art. Unless the terms are explicitly defined in the present invention, the terms should not be interpreted with ideal or excessively formal meanings.

(9) FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a surface discharge plasma module of a powder plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1

(10) Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a circular surface discharge plasma module 110 is employed as the powder plasma processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The surface discharge plasma module 110 includes a plate-like electrode layer 111, an insulating layer 112, and plasma generating electrodes 113.

(11) The plate-like electrode layer 111 forms an outer surface of the circular surface discharge plasma module 110.

(12) The insulating layer 112 insulates the plate-like electrode layer 111 from the plasma generating electrodes 113, and the insulating layer 112 is formed at an inner surface side of the plate-like electrode layer 111. For example, the insulating layer 112 may be formed of a material such as MgO, MgF.sub.2, LiF, CaF.sub.2, alumina, glass, ceramic, magnesium oxide, and so forth.

(13) A plurality of the plasma generating electrodes 113 are arranged on the insulating layer 112, and plasma is generated around the plasma generating electrodes 113. For example, the plasma generating electrodes 113 may be in the form of a bar and may protrude on the insulating layer 112. For example, the arrangement of the plasma generating electrodes 113 may be such that they are arranged at intervals in the circumferential direction of the circular surface discharge plasma module 110 or the plasma generating electrodes 113 may extend in the longitudinal direction of the surface discharge plasma module 110. As another example, referring to FIG. 3, the plasma generating electrodes 113 may be arranged at intervals in the longitudinal direction of the circular surface discharge plasma module 110 or the plasma generating electrodes 113 may extend in the circumferential direction of the circular surface discharge plasma module 110.

(14) According to an embodiment of the present invention, a high voltage is applied to the plate-like electrode layer 111, and the plasma generating electrodes 113 are ground electrodes.

(15) According to another embodiment of the present invention, the plate-like electrode layer 111 is a ground electrode, and a high voltage is applied to the plasma generating electrodes 113.

(16) In this surface discharge plasma module 110, an alternating voltage is applied from the plasma power supply 120 to the plasma generating electrodes 113 and the plate-like electrode layer 111, and a plasma reaction gas is injected, thereby generating the plasma around the plasma generating electrodes 113. For example, a gas containing oxygen such as O.sub.2 or N.sub.2O, a gas containing fluorine such as CF.sub.4 or SF.sub.6, a gas containing chlorine such as Cl.sub.2 or BCl.sub.3, and an inert gas such as Ar or N.sub.2 may be used alone or in combination as the plasma reaction gas.

(17) In addition, both sides of the surface discharge plasma module 110 in the longitudinal direction may be opened, and a powder may be supplied and withdrawn (collected) through the opened sides. The surface treatment is performed on the powder by means of the plasma while the surface discharge plasma module 110 rotates.

(18) The present invention includes a driving unit for rotating the surface discharge plasma module 110. Although not shown, the driving unit may have a form for rotating the surface discharge plasma module 110, for example, driving means such as a driving motor may be connected to the surface discharge plasma module 110. The driving unit is not specifically limited as long as it can rotate the surface discharge plasma module 110.

(19) The driving unit includes a rotational speed control unit. The rotational speed control unit is configured to control the speed at which the circular surface discharge plasma module 110 is rotated. Although not shown, for example, the rotational speed control unit may be in the form of a control box or a programmable logic controller (PLC). The rotational speed control unit is not specifically limited to this configuration. When the rotational speed of the surface discharge plasma module 110 is adjusted, the time that the powder spends in contact with the plasma or the number of times the powder comes in contact with the plasma is adjusted.

(20) Hereinafter, the procedure of processing the powder using the powder plasma processing apparatus according to the present invention will be briefly described.

(21) The powder is injected into the surface discharge plasma module 110.

(22) An alternating voltage is applied from the plasma power supply 120 to the plate-like electrode layer 111 and the plasma generating electrodes 113, and a reaction gas is injected, thereby generating the plasma around the plasma generating electrodes 113.

(23) The surface discharge plasma module 110 is rotated by the driving unit.

(24) When the surface discharge plasma module 110 is rotated, the powder within the surface discharge plasma module 110 rises and falls in the rotational direction of the rotating surface discharge plasma module 110. This procedure is repeated while the surface discharge plasma module 110 is rotated. In this case, the powder is in contact with the plasma.

(25) The rotational speed of the surface discharge plasma module 110 may be adjusted if necessary.

(26) When the powder plasma processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention is employed, the surface discharge plasma module 110 is circular, and the powder is processed while the surface discharge plasma module 110 is rotated, thereby allowing the powder to be uniformly processed.

(27) In addition, since the speed at which the circular surface discharge plasma module is rotated is adjusted, the time that the powder spends in contact with the plasma can be controlled.

(28) It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the above-described exemplary embodiments of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover all such modifications provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

REFERENCE NUMERAL

(29) 110 Surface discharge plasma module

(30) 111 Plate-like electrode layer

(31) 112 Insulating layer

(32) 113 Plasma generating electrode

(33) 120 Plasma power supply