Manufacturing miniature Langmuir probes by fusing platinum bond wires

Abstract

This paper reports on a novel method for manufacturing microscopic Langmuir probes with spherical tips from platinum bond wires by fusing for plasma characterization in microplasma sources. Here, the resulting endpoints, formed by droplets on the ends of a fused wire, are intended to act as spherical Langmuir probes. For studying the fusing behavior, bond wires were wedge bonded over a 2 mm wide slit, to emulate the final application, and fused with different voltages and currents. For electrical isolation, a set of wires were coated with a 4 μm thick layer of Parylene before they were fused. After fusing, the gap size, as well as the shape and area of the ends of the remaining stubs were measured. The yield of the process was also investigated, and the fusing event was studied using a high-speed camera for analyzing its dynamics. Four characteristic tip shapes were observed: spherical, folded, serpentine shaped and semi-spherical. The stub length leveled out at ∼400 μm as the fusing power increased. The fusing of the coated wires required a higher power to yield a spherical shape. Finally, a Parylene coated bond wire was integrated into a stripline split-ring resonator (SSRR) microplasma source, and was fused to form two Langmuir probes with spherical endpoints. These probes were used for measuring the I–V characteristics of a plasma generated by the SSRR. In a voltage range between −60 V and 60 V, the fused stubs exhibited the expected behavior of spherical Langmuir probes, and will be considered for further integration.