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March 10, 2026
VIEWPOINT 2026: Lukas Buske, CEO, Plasmatreat GmbHAre you planning to launch any new products or services in 2026?
Our PDW100 plasma nozzle enables the uniform activation of large areas of sensitive substrates and removes organic residues and oxides without introducing particles, all while maintaining high process stability. The PFA10 offers low-particle, potential-free, and locally precise plasma treatment. It removes organic contamination and oxide layers, activates metallic and polymer surfaces, and creates optimal conditions for applications such as hybrid bonding and chiplet stacking. By expanding our plasma nozzle portfolio, we are raising the bar for purity and process reliability in semiconductor manufacturing. The new nozzles enable homogeneous, contamination-free surface treatment, which is essential for reliable electrical and mechanical connections. They are fully inline-integratable and designed for cleanroom environments. Developed specifically for sensitive electronics and semiconductor applications such as wafer cleaning, the portfolio covers treatment widths from 10 to 300 mm. The systems are also characterized by extremely low gas consumption. These technologies are tailored to modern packaging concepts, such as hybrid bonding and thermocompression bonding (TCB), and they meet the increasing process requirements of the next generation of semiconductor manufacturing. Have tariffs affected your business planning? Tariffs have impacted our business to a certain extent, but the overall impact remains manageable. We can now see much more clearly that our customers' production strategies are changing due to the trade policy environment, and that manufacturing capacities are increasingly being relocated or diversified geographically. In response, we are expanding our activities in India and other locations in 2026. We are strengthening our local presence to provide better support to customers in new production regions. Does your company use artificial intelligence? AI currently plays a supporting role in our processes but not a central one. It is integrated into our CRM system, supporting the analysis of customer data and structured, data-based sales work. Looking to the future, we see great potential for AI's use, particularly in control technology, plant planning, and production-related processes. By evaluating large amounts of data, we can identify bottlenecks, optimize processes, and operate plants more efficiently and precisely while using fewer resources. Additionally, AI provides substantial opportunities in sales and service. For instance, it can be used for error analysis and troubleshooting, as well as for identifying new markets, analyzing customer requirements, and developing customized technical solutions. In the long term, AI will be an important building block for increasing efficiency, process reliability, and competitiveness. What is your company's outlook for 2026? We are cautiously optimistic and expect a more positive outlook than in the current year. Although Plasmatreat remains closely linked to the automotive industry, our broad positioning across numerous industries also benefits us. We see considerable growth potential in the semiconductor sector as Openair-Plasma® technologies are becoming more prevalent there. New manufacturing approaches, such as hybrid bonding, are increasing demand for precise and reliable plasma pretreatment. With this in mind, we are strategically expanding our product portfolio to best support future technology hubs and modern packaging concepts. Lukas Buske, CEO Plasmatreat GmbH http://www.plasmatreat.de |
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