Patent ID: 8835797

Claim:
A method for the plasma treatment of metal or insulating substrates, said method comprising: passing at least one substrate substantially continuously through a vacuum chamber having a treatment area ( 2 ), the at least one substrate passing through said treatment area ( 2 ); maintaining the plasma by radio-frequency inductive coupling in the treatment area ( 2 ) by means of an inductor ( 4 ) connected to a radio-frequency generator; protecting the inductor ( 4 ) from any contamination by the material emitted by the surface of the substrate ( 3 ) by positioning a Faraday screen ( 7 ) between the plasma and the inductor ( 4 ) and directly adjacent to the plasma, wherein the Faraday screen ( 7 ) constitutes a conductive electrode; electrically polarizing the Faraday screen ( 7 ) on average positively with respect to the substrate ( 3 ), thereby accelerating ions present in the plasma towards the substrate ( 3 ); generating the plasma between the Faraday screen and the substrates in the treatment area; and recovering electrons from the plasma at the electrode forming the Faraday screen ( 7 ), the plasma being generated between the Faraday screen and the substrates in the treatment area.