Chemical and physical characteristics of the single crystal silicon surface polished by the atmospheric pressure plasma polishing (APPP) method

Atmospheric pressure plasma polishing (APPP) is a non-contacting precision machining technology. It performs the atom scale material removal by chemical reactions excited by low temperature plasma. As an important evaluation factor, the physical and chemical characteristics of the machined surface should be tested to demonstrate the machining quality. The tested surface properties offer the reference for further process optimization and facility improvement. The reduced modulus measured by commercial nanomechanical test system indicates distinct improvement of the surface mechanical properties. The further theoretical calculation on the residual stresses also testifies the elimination of the former deformation layer. The element composition on the machined surface was detected by XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) which demonstrates the occurrence of the anticipated main reactions. And the surface topographies under AFM (atomic force microscope) and SEM (scanning electron microscopy) also indicate obvious amelioration of the surface states.