Some people use Tesla coils or corona discharge guns instead of plasma
chambers. For a recent example see "PDMS bonding by means of a portable,
low-cost corona system", Kathryn Haubert, Tracy Drier and David Beebe,
Lab Chip, 2006, 6, 1548. As for using a sputter chamber I don't know for
sure but it sounds like it could work. I have found air to be just as
good as oxygen but it will depend on what other parameters you have. See
previous threads here for discussions of plasma bonding to help you
figure out the right conditions.


Laura Malatto wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> I want to bond my PDMS structure (with microfluidic chamber/ channels)
> over a Si device. My question is how can I do activation without an
> oxygen plasma dedicated equipment.
> Can I use a sputtering machine? we have a sputtering with DC/RF
> source, and it has a bias to perform the plasma over the substrate (it
> is used to clean the surface before deposition). If yes, which gas do
> you recommend me to use?