Development of High Power Pulse Micro-Plasma Source

Summary form only given. Application of atmospheric plasma for industrial purpose widely spread because it dose not need vacuum chamber and pumping system. In various atmospheric plasmas, microplasma sources attract attention. Because it has a large potential for small area and low cost processing. In this study, we designed and developed a new high power pulse microplasma source. The new hollow cathode type plasma source has metal-insulator-metal structure with small discharge hole. Molybdenum plates that have 300 mum thickness are used as electrodes and a glass plate that has 900 mum thickness is used as an insulator. An atmospheric plasma is stably generated in the small hole. However, the electron number density and the plasma temperature are limited by small input power (~ few W). The input power is limited by electrode melting. To increase the input power, we developed a pulsed power generator. The discharge waveform has high voltage predischarge pulse and long main pulse. The previous pulse is used for ignite the pre-plasma and latter pulse is used to maintain the stable plasma. The basic properties of the plasma that includes emission intensity and some plasma temperatures are reported.