Monitoring plasma etching of biomolecules by imaging ellipsometry

Low-pressure plasma discharges can be applied to remove various biomolecules from surfaces. However, the knowledge on the interaction between plasma and biomolecules and the kinetics of their removal is still rather poor, which is a major limiting factor for the optimization of this type of plasma treatment. This is, among other reasons, because of the restrictions of currently used techniques for the evaluation of the rates of biomolecule removal during plasma treatment. Therefore, an alternative method based on imaging ellipsometry is applied in this study. It is shown that this method allows reliable semi-quantitative comparison of the treatment efficiency of plasma discharges sustained in different gas mixtures.