Influence of multiple electrode configurations on atmospheric pressure microplasma jet arrays in flexible polymer

Summary form only given. Novel microcavity plasma jet devices operating at atmospheric gas pressure have been fabricated in a flexible, robust and optically transparent polymer. By a micromolding process, large scale arrays of microcavities, each having a diameter of hundreds of microns and embedded electrodes, have been fabricated with various form factors that can be precisely controlled. Arrays as large as 25 microcavity jets with a pitch of 1 mm and an overall active area of 25 mm² have been realized to date. Each jet in the array has a channel diameter of 350 μm and extends up to 4 mm into laboratory when the feedstock gas is He and its flow rate is ~4.6 standard liters per minute. Breakdown voltage under these conditions is ~1 kV (RMS) for a 20 kHz sinusoid and the differential resistance characterizing entire area decreases as the number of jets in the array is increased. Of particular interest is the observation that the propagation characteristics of the jets depend markedly on the electrode configuration and the spatiotemporal behavior of microplasma jet can be varied by the addition of multiple electrode geometries. The characteristics and control of microplasma propagation inside the microcavity jet with various structural and operational parameters will be discussed.