Integrated coaxial-hollow micro dielectric-barrier-discharges for a large-area plasma source operating at around atmospheric pressure

Abstract

An integrated structure of coaxial-hollow micro dielectric-barrier-discharges has been developed by stacking two metal meshes covered with insulating material. The test panel has an effective area of 50 mm diameter in which hundreds of hollow structures are assembled with a unit hollow area of 0.2 × 1.7 mm2. He or N2 was used as the discharge gas in the pressure range from 20 to 100 kPa and the firing voltage was less than 2 kV, even at the maximum pressure. The intensity of each microdischarge was observed to be uniform over the whole area throughout the pressure range, and its time evolution during one discharge pulse was analysed through two-dimensional microscopic observation with a gated CCD camera. In a gas flow regime through the coaxial hollow structures, several significant changes of the discharge properties were observed, such as impurity reduction, decrease in discharge voltage and cooling of the neutral gas. The fundamental plasma parameters were measured using a single probe in the downstream region of microdischarges using an auxiliary flat electrode set apart from the mesh electrode plane. The occurrence of an extended glow with a length of some millimetres was observed in He but not in N2. The electron density derived by the probe data in He at 100 kPa was ∼3 × 1011 cm−3, suggesting a value of more than 1012 cm−3 in the active microdischarge region.