Process and device for reducing the ignition voltage of plasmas operated using pulses of pulsed power

摘要

Process and device for reducing an ignition voltage of power pulses in plasmas operated in a pulsed manner with long pulse-off times. The process includes generating a power pulsed plasma at a pulse duty factor, the pulse duty factor being a ratio of pulse-on time to pulse-off time, and at least before the beginning of the pulse-on time of the power pulses, producing charge carriers using an additional plasma discharge at a lower power than that of the power pulses. The device includes a vacuum chamber including at least one pump system, an arrangement for producing plasma, the arrangement including at least one anode and at least one cathode, an energy source connected to the cathode and the anode which can be pulsed in the frequency range of between approximately 10 Hz to approximately 1 MHZ, and a mechanism for one of producing an additional plasma discharge.