Microwave plasma

Microwaves, being high frequency electromagnetic radiation in the GHz range, are capable of exciting electrodeless gas discharges.

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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.

See also

• Sulfur lamp