Fused hollow cathode cold atmospheric plasma

Abstract

A fused hollow cathode (FHC) plasma source is introduced. The system of radio-frequency (rf) generated hollow cathodes with flowing gas forms an integrated electrode source which operates in the pressure range from 1 Torr to atmospheric pressure. The diameter of the source is 3.5 cm. However, the construction perfectly enables further scaling up. The forward rf power to sustain the discharge at atmospheric pressure can be as low as 2 W. The discharge is stable, volume filling, silent, with no streamers. The FHC atmospheric plasma source is very promising for surface processing, specially on temperature sensitive substrates, and may substantially save costs by avoiding investments into the vacuum equipment.