Surface Treatment of Polyimide Using Solid-source H₂O Plasma for Fabrication of Ge Electrode

We demonstrated the surface treatment of polyimide using solid-source H2O plasma for the fabrication of Ge thin films as an electrode of flexible devices. By using the solid-source H2O plasma, the internal stress of a polyimide sheet with deposited Ge was decreased, and the adhesion between the polyimide and Ge was also improved. In addition, the solid-source H2O plasma treatment was effective for increasing the bending durability and decreasing the resistance of the Ge electrode on a polyimide surface. Moreover, we analyzed a polyimide surface treated with solid-source H2O plasma, by Fourier transform IR spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. We believe that the proposed solid-source H2O plasma process is useful for bonding between polyimide and Ge in the fabrication of flexible semiconductor electrodes.