Highly efficient initiation carrier injection for nonthermal atmospheric plasma generation

Abstract

The dependence of the breakdown voltage on an initiation carrier is experimentally characterized. Micromachined electrodes integrated on a substrate offer independently controlled initiation carrier injections by generating an afterglow prior to a primary discharge. Quantitative correlation study reveals that as the number of injected initiation carriers increases, the breakdown voltage linearly reduces to as low as the discharge sustaining voltage. Injection efficiency of the afterglow can be further improved by optimizing an electrode configuration, thereby demonstrating scalable nonthermal atmospheric plasmas at only half of the breakdown voltage for a conventional two electrode discharge. (C) 2015 American Vacuum Society.