Potential applications of hyperthermal atomic oxygen for treatment of materials and structures

Abstract Many polymer‐based materials degrade in low earth orbit (LEO), mainly due to the damaging environmental effects of hyperthermal or fast atomic oxygen of energy E ∼ 5 eV and solar vacuum ultraviolet radiation. Fast atomic oxygen fluxes of similar energies are generated now in ground‐based facilities that are used for accelerated testing of materials. This paper presents a brief overview of the effects of interaction of fast atomic oxygen fluxes with polymer‐based materials in the LEO space environment and in ground‐based simulators, and discusses a few possible applications of fast atomic oxygen fluxes. Such applications can lead to considerable advantages over plasma treatment, aimed at improvement of adhesion‐related and optical properties of polymer‐based materials, high‐quality precise photoresist etching and passivative oxidation of advanced semiconductor materials, and modified or entirely new surface properties of biomaterials and chemical sensors.