PECVD lubricity vessel coating, coating process and apparatus providing different power levels in two phases
First Claim
1. A method for preparing a lubricity coating on a plastic substrate, the method comprising:
- (a) providing a gas comprising an organosilicon precursor, optionally an oxidizing gas, and an inert gas in the vicinity of the substrate surface;
(b) generating plasma in the gas by applying plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a first pulse at a first energy level; and
(c) after said step (b), generating plasma in the gas by applying plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a second pulse at a second energy level lower than the first energy level;
thus forming a coating on the substrate surface by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for coating a substrate surface such as a syringe part by PECVD is provided, the method comprising generating a plasma from a gaseous reactant comprising an organosilicon precursor and optionally an oxidizing gas by providing plasma-forming energy adjacent to the substrate, thus forming a coating on the substrate surface by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The plasma-forming energy is applied in a first phase as a first pulse at a first energy level followed by further treatment in a second phase at a second energy level lower than the first energy level. The lubricity, hydrophobicity and/or barrier properties of the coating are set by setting the ratio of the O2 to the organosilicon precursor in the gaseous reactant, and/or by setting the electric power used for generating the plasma.
-
Citations
28 Claims
-
1. A method for preparing a lubricity coating on a plastic substrate, the method comprising:
-
(a) providing a gas comprising an organosilicon precursor, optionally an oxidizing gas, and an inert gas in the vicinity of the substrate surface; (b) generating plasma in the gas by applying plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a first pulse at a first energy level; and (c) after said step (b), generating plasma in the gas by applying plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a second pulse at a second energy level lower than the first energy level; thus forming a coating on the substrate surface by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28)
(ii) the ratio of the electrode power to the plasma volume is equal or more than 5 W/ml; and
/or(iii) the oxidizing gas comprises O2 in a volume;
volume ratio of from 1;
1 to 100;
1 in relation to the silicon containing precursor.
-
-
16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the substrate is a polymer selected from the group consisting of a polycarbonate, an olefin polymer, a cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), a cyclic olefin polymer (COP), and a polyester.
-
17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasma is generated with RF energy.
-
18. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plasma-forming energy reduces the breakout force, Fi, of the syringe, compared to the breakout force of a similar syringe that has only been treated at the second energy level.
-
19. The method according to claim 1, wherein the resulting lubricity coating has an atomic ratio SiwOxCy or SiwNxCy wherein w is 1, x is from about 0.5 to about 2.4, y is from about 0.6 to about 3.
-
20. A coated substrate coated with a lubricity coating made by the method according to claim 1.
-
21. The coated substrate of claim 20, wherein the lubricity coating has a lower frictional resistance than the uncoated surface by at least 25%.
-
22. A syringe comprising a barrel made according to claim 1.
-
23. The syringe according to claim 22 which contains in its lumen a medicament.
-
24. The syringe of claim 22, wherein the plunger initiation force Fi is from 2.5 to 15 N and the plunger maintenance force Fm is from 2.5 to 25 N after 1 week.
-
25. The method of claim 1 wherein the lubricity coating has the atomic ratio SiwOxCy wherein w is 1, x is from about 0.5 to about 2.4, y is from about 0.6 to about 3.
-
26. The method of claim 1, wherein the plastic substrate is COP, wherein the gas in step (a) comprises octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, O2 and Ar, and wherein the power for generating the plasma is from 6 W/ml to 0.1 W/ml in relation to the volume of the syringe lumen.
-
28. The method of claim 1, in which the first pulse is applied for 0.1 to 5 seconds and the first pulse energy level is from 21 to 100 Watts.
-
27. A method for preparing a lubricity coating on a plastic substrate, the method comprising:
-
(a) providing plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) equipment; (b) in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) equipment, providing a gas comprising an organosilicon precursor, optionally an oxidizing gas, and an inert gas in the vicinity of the substrate surface; (c) in the plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) equipment, generating plasma in the gas by providing plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a first pulse at a first energy level; and (d) after step (c), in the same plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) equipment, without breaking vacuum, generating plasma in the gas by providing plasma-forming energy adjacent to the plastic substrate as a second pulse at a second energy level lower than the first energy level; thus forming a coating on the substrate surface by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD).
-
Specification