Silicon microchannel devices with different electrode geometry: Spatiotemporal behavior of microplasmas

Summary form only given. Microdischarges produced in silicon microchannel devices having a series of different electrode geometry have been studied by optical microscopy. As previously reported¹, the device has a microchannel with a width of 50 μm and a depth of ~30 μm fabricated on a 380 μm thick Si wafer that is overcoated with multi-dielectric film. The top electrode is a metal electrode layer deposited on the top of multi-dielectric layer with a thickness of ~0.1 μm and is patterned by lithography as a transverse (or interdigitate) geometry with an edge-to-edge spacing of 50-100 μm along the rim of the channel. Also, in this presentation, we included another device structures which having a different volume of free space on the top of the device to observe the propagation of surface discharges through this space. Propagation of the microplasmas along the channel as well as the discussion of the coupling phenomena of the plasma waves perpendicular to the Si channel will be presented.