AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Plasma Science and Technology Wednesday Sessions
       Session PS-WeA

Paper PS-WeA7
A Non-Equilibrium Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Operating at High Power Densities

Wednesday, November 2, 2005, 4:00 pm, Room 302

Session: Atmospheric Plasmas and Microdischarges
Presenter: M. Moravej, University of California, Los Angeles
Authors: M. Moravej, University of California, Los Angeles
X. Yang, Researcher
J. Penelon, Surfx Technologies
S. Babayan, Surfx Technologies
R.F. Hicks, University of California, Los Angeles
Correspondent: Click to Email
A new atmospheric pressure plasma source has been developed that shows exceedingly high processing rates. For example, kapton films have been etched at 5.0 mm/s using an argon and oxygen discharge with 6.0 vol.% O2 and a temperature of 280 °C. The plasma source consisted of a small quartz tube that was capacitively coupled to radio frequency power at 13.56 MHz. The input plasma power could be increased up to 150 W/cm3 without arcing, or forming a streamer like discharge. At this power density, the gas temperature was determined by spectroscopic methods to be 300±30 °C. The O atom concentration was measured in the plasma afterglow by nitric oxide titration, and was found to be 1.2±0.6 ´1017 cm-3 at 150 W/cm3 and 6.0 vol.% O2 in Ar. This corresponds to 15% dissociation of the oxygen molecules fed to the source. The concentration of ozone in the downstream region equaled 4.3±0.5 ´1014 cm-3, as determined by UV absorption spectroscopy. These results were found to be in good agreement with a numerical model of the plasma and afterglow that included the reaction mechanism and the plasma electron density and temperature as calculated from current-voltage measurements. At the meeting, we will discuss the physics and chemistry of this new atmospheric plasma in detail. We will also present results on materials processing with this device, such as silicon dioxide etching and/or thin film deposition.