Microwave plasma
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Microwaves, being high frequency electromagnetic radiation in the GHz range, are capable of exciting electrodeless gas discharges.
Microwave-excited plasmas have two appealing properties:
- If applied in surface-wave-sustained mode, they are especially well suited to generate large-area= plasmas of high plasma density.
- Both in surface-wave and resonator mode, they can exhibit a high degree of spatial localisation. This allows to spatially separate the location of plasma generation from the location of surface processing, see afterglow plasma. Such a separation, together with an appropriate gas-flow scheme, may help reduce the negative effect that particles released from a processed substrate may have on the plasma chemistry of the gas phase.
