The hollow-anode discharge is a special form of glow discharge. It is shown that a drastically reduced anode area is responsible for a positive anode voltage drop of 30-40 V and an increased anode sheath thickness. This leads to ignition of a relatively dense plasma in front of the anode hole. Langmuir probe measurements inside a specially designed hollow anode plasma source give an electron density and temperature of ne=109-1011 cm-3 and Te=1-3 eV, respectively (nitrogen, current 100 mA, flow rate 5-50 scc min-1). Driven by a pressure gradient, the 'anode' plasma is blown through the anode hole and forms a bright plasma jet streaming with supersonic velocity (Mach number 1.2). The plasma-stream can be used, for instance, in plasma-assisted deposition of thin films.
BT - Plasma Source Science and Technology C1 -Windows and Daylighting Group
C2 - LBL-36240 DA - 11/1995 DO - 10.1088/0963-0252/4/4/008 IS - 4 LA - eng N2 -The hollow-anode discharge is a special form of glow discharge. It is shown that a drastically reduced anode area is responsible for a positive anode voltage drop of 30-40 V and an increased anode sheath thickness. This leads to ignition of a relatively dense plasma in front of the anode hole. Langmuir probe measurements inside a specially designed hollow anode plasma source give an electron density and temperature of ne=109-1011 cm-3 and Te=1-3 eV, respectively (nitrogen, current 100 mA, flow rate 5-50 scc min-1). Driven by a pressure gradient, the 'anode' plasma is blown through the anode hole and forms a bright plasma jet streaming with supersonic velocity (Mach number 1.2). The plasma-stream can be used, for instance, in plasma-assisted deposition of thin films.
PY - 1995 SP - 571 EP - 575 ST - Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. T2 - Plasma Source Science and Technology TI - Working Principle of the Hollow-Anode Plasma Source VL - 4 ER -