Aluminum-Rich Glass Coating for High-pH Pharmaceutical Stability
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing glass coatings for pharmaceutical containers face challenges with stability, particularly at high pH values, especially when storing sensitive pharmaceutical substances like biologics, due to issues with resistance, chemical stability, adhesion, and emptying properties.
Innovation Solution
A coating process for glass elements using plasma impulse chemical vapor deposition (PICVD) with specific parameters such as temperature, pulse duration, and precursor composition to form a layer with [Al+]80/[Al+]20≥1.8, ensuring excellent resistance and stability across a wide pH range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a coating is applied to enhance glass surface resistance, then chemical stability and adhesion are improved, but stability at high pH values deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies plasma impulse chemical vapor deposition with specific parameter ranges: temperature of 150-300°C, pulse duration of 1-100 μs, and power density of 10-1000 W/cm². These parameter changes create a coating with altered chemical composition and structure that maintains stability across a wide pH range including high pH values, directly resolving the contradiction between general coating stability and high pH stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The coating formed through PICVD creates a composite structure on the glass surface with specific aluminum ion distribution patterns. The composite nature of the coating, with controlled aluminum content and distribution, provides both general chemical stability and specific resistance to high pH environments, solving the contradiction between overall coating reliability and high pH stability.
2Reliability
If plasma impulse chemical vapor deposition is used with high temperature, then coating stability is improved, but process complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs periodic plasma impulses with pulse durations of 1-100 μs to deposit the coating. This periodic action allows the system to achieve high coating stability through controlled thermal and chemical cycles, while the pulsed nature simplifies the overall process compared to continuous high-temperature methods, as it allows for thermal management and reduced equipment complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
By optimizing the temperature range to 150-300°C and using short pulse durations, the patent achieves effective coating deposition without requiring extremely high temperatures or complex equipment. The parameter changes enable a balance between coating quality and process simplicity, reducing device complexity while maintaining high reliability.
3Productivity
If short pulse duration is used in PICVD, then manufacturing efficiency is improved, but coating quality may deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The periodic plasma impulses with optimized pulse durations of 1-100 μs enable efficient material deposition while maintaining coating quality. The periodic nature allows sufficient time for precursor decomposition and film formation during each pulse, ensuring high-quality coatings are deposited rapidly, thus resolving the contradiction between productivity and coating quality.
Solution Approach 2:
By carefully selecting and optimizing the pulse duration parameter within the 1-100 μs range, along with corresponding temperature and power density parameters, the patent achieves both high deposition efficiency and excellent coating quality. The parameter changes ensure that each pulse is long enough to form quality film but short enough to maintain high productivity.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The coating provides long-term stability up to ten years in acidic or alkaline solutions, reduces leaching of alkali ions, and enhances adhesion, making it suitable for storing biologics.
Implementation Method 1
irradiating the precursor to generate a plasma
Implementation Method 2
performing a coating process on at least part of the glass surface. The coating process includes: surrounding the at least part of the glass surface of the glass element with a precursor; and irradiating the precursor to generate a plasma
Data Source
AI summary
A coated glass element includes: a glass surface and a coating that coats at least part of the glass surface. The coating has at least one layer. The at least one layer of the coating fulfills the following parameter: [Al+]80/[Al+]20≥1.8. [Al+]20 are counts of [Al+] ions, measured by a time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), at 20% of a time a sputter gun beam needs to reach the glass surface and [Al+]80 are counts of [Al+] ions, measured by a TOF-SIMS, at 80% of a time a sputter gun beam needs to reach the glass surface.