Micro-structured electrode arrays: high-frequency discharges at atmospheric pressure - characterization and new applications

摘要

Micro-structured electrode (MSE) arrays allow to generate large-area uniform glow discharges over a wide pressure range up to atmospheric pressure. The electrode dimensions in the pm-range realized by means of modern micro-machining and galvanic techniques are small enough to generate sufficiently high electric field strengths to ignite gas discharges applying only moderate radio frequency (RF, 13.56 MHz) voltages (80-390 V in Ne, He, Ar and N-2). The non-thermal plasma system is characterized by a special probe measuring the electric parameters. The MSE-driven plasmas show a different behavior from conventional discharge plasmas depending on the pressure and the type of gas. With the MSE arrays as plasma sources, several applications were developed and successfully tested: Plasma chemistry (decomposition of waste gases like CF4) and thin film deposition (e.g. SiO2 layers on various substrates). A new atmospheric pressure application realized in our lab is the sterilization of food packaging materials. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.