Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Options...

• Classic: DC arc

  • Plasma sustained by thermionic emission from hot cathode and thermal ionization
  • Plasma is very hot (50,000 K, with Te = 9 eV)
  • Electrode erosion, stability, uniformity can be problems
  • Tools from IPEC and TruSi

• Corona discharge

  • Low temperature, low density, highly localized around emitting tip
  • Arcs observed at currents > 10 ľA

• Silent discharge

  • Discharge is sum of large number of transient localized arcs
  • Widely used for ozone generators

• Plasma jet

  • RF to cylindrical electrode with coaxial sheath
  • Moderate powers, low temperature gas
  • Demonstrated for deposition

Ref: Schutze et al 1999

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