Plasma annealing of thin-wall and small diameter tubes: efficient, high-speed alternative to traditional radiance annealing

摘要

Plasma is ionised gas. Electrically charged particles make plasma different from a normal gaseous state of matter. Charged particles can be accelerated in the electric field and directed to a target. In the plasma annealing chamber the electric field accelerates ions towards the surface of the processed material and electrons towards the edge of the heating chamber. Shown in the schematic in Figure 1, the electric field in the heating chamber accelerates charged particles between the outer wall of the plasma chamber and the processed material. Electrons have virtually no mass and carry no energy. Hence they do not heat the plasma chamber as they hit the plasma chamber. It is only the radiation from the glowing material surface that conveys heat to the plasma chamber. This makes plasma annealing an efficient technique to heat the material, resulting in only a very small percentage of power lost as heat dissipated into the environment.