Measurements of plasma parameters in a hollow electrode AC glow discharge in helium

Measurements of the plasma parameters of coaxial gridded hollow electrode alternating current(AC)discharge helium plasma were carried out using an improved probe diagnostic technology.The measurements were performed under well-defined discharge conditions(chamber geometry,input power,AC power frequency,and external electrical characteristics).The problems encountered in describing the characteristics of AC discharge in many probe diagnostic methods were addressed by using an improved probe diagnostics design.This design can also be applied to the measurement of plasma parameters in many kinds of plasma sources in which the probe potential fluctuates with the discharge current.Several parameters of the hollow electrode AC helium discharge plasma were measured,including the plasma density,electron temperature,plasma density profiles,and changes in plasma density at different input power values and helium pressures.The characteristics of the coaxial gridded hollow electrode plasma determined by the experiments are suitable for comparison with plasma simulations,and for use in many applications of hollow cathode plasma.     

DPF焦点装置的异向性因子测量

等离子体焦点装置的中子产生机制有两种：热核机制和束-靶机制,热核机制产生的中子是各向同性的,而束-靶机制产生的中子是各向异性的。通过测量焦点装置的中子角分布,轴向中子产额比径向中子产额大1．6～1．8倍,说明本装置中子产生的主要机理为束-靶机制。可以验证焦点装置的中子产生机制。     

Hydrophobic coating of surfaces by plasma polymerization in an RF plasma reactor with an outer planar electrode: synthesis,characterization and biocompatibility

This paper presents the plasma polymerization of poly(hexafluorobutyl acrylate)(PHFBA) thin films on different substrates in an RF plasma reactor with an outer planar electrode. This reactor configuration allows?large area uniformity and fast processing times. Deposition rates of up to60 nm min-1were observed. The influence?of plasma power and substrate temperature on the?deposition rate, structure and wettability of the as-deposited films was?investigated. It was observed that better hydrophobicity was obtained at high plasma power and in low temperature conditions. PHFBA thin films deposited on electrospun poly(acrylonitrile) fiber mats under such conditions resulted in superhydrophobic surfaces with?contact angle values greater than 150°.In?vitro cell studies using human epithelial cells demonstrated the non-toxic nature of the?plasma-polymerized PHFBA films.     

Twisted coil geometry in plasma confinement devices

Twisted coils, ie., coils for which windings do not lie in a plane, are used widely in plasma confinement devices, especially those in the general class of stellerator-type devices. In the design of these devicesad hoc expressions for the positions of turns and the outer envelope of the windings are usually assumed. However, these expressions do not correctly represent the true shape taken by windings as successive turns and layers of turns are applied to a curved surface. In the present work, the techniques of differential geometry are used to determine the actual location of turns as they are wound on arbitrary surfaces. In the process, a set of natural winding coordinates is derived; the Biot Savart law for calculation of magnetic fields is expressed in terms of these natural coordinates. Next, the advantages of using a class of surfaces, called developables, for winding surfaces are discussed. A particular developable, called the rectifying developable, offers the additional advantages that the turns on it are geodesies and that wide flat conductors can be wound on it to minimize bending strains. Finally, the problem of windings with conductors of finite thickness is briefly discussed.     

New linear plasma devices in the trilateral euregio cluster for an integrated approach to plasma surface interactions in fusion reactors

New linear plasma devices are currently being constructed or planned in the Trilateral Euregio Cluster (TEC) to meet the challenges with respect to plasma surface interactions in DEMO and ITER: i) MAGNUM-PSI (FOM), a high particle and power flux device with super-conducting magnetic field coils which will reach ITER-like divertor conditions at high magnetic field, ii) the newly proposed linear plasma device JULE-PSI (FZJ), which will allow to expose toxic and neutron activated target samples to ITER-like fluences and ion energies including in vacuo analysis of neutron activated samples, and iii) the plasmatron VISION I, a compact plasma device which will be operated inside the tritium lab at SCK-CEN Mol, capable to investigate tritium plasmas and moderately activated wall materials. This contribution shows the capabilities of the new devices and their forerunner experiments (Pilot-PSI at FOM and PSI-2 Jülich at FZJ) in view of the main objectives of the new TEC program on plasma surface interactions.     

Relation between etching profile and voltage–current shape of sintered SiC etching by atmospheric pressure plasma

Sintered silicon carbide (SiC) was etched by a dielectric barrier discharge source. A high voltage bipolar pulse was used with helium gas for the plasma generation. One stable filament plasma was generated and could be used for SiC etching. As the processing gas (NF₃) mixing rate increased, the width and depth of the etching profile became narrower and deeper. The differentiated V–Q Lissajous method was used for measuring the capacitances (C_eq) of the electrode after the plasma turned on. The width of the etching profile was proportional to C_eq. As the current peak value I_smx of the substrate current increased, the volume removal rate of SiC increased. The etch depth was proportional to the ratio of I_smx to C_eq. Additionally, because of the different characteristics of the plasma disks on SiC substrate by the voltage polarity, the etching profile was unstable. However, in high NF₃ mixing process, the etching profile became stable and deeper.     

Improving the surface insulation of epoxy resin by plasma etching

Epoxy resin (EP) tends to accumulate a large amount of charge on its surface when exposed to a high-voltage DC electric field,which leads to a reduction in its insulative performance and an increase in potential safety risks in power systems.To suppress charge accumulation,improve the flashover voltage of the EP,and reduce the risk of gas insulated switchgear (GIS)/gas insulated transmission line (GIL) failure,we used two plasma-etching methods,i.e.,atmospheric-pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and the atmospheric-pressure plasma jet(APPJ),to modify the surface of the EP.The surface morphology and electrical properties of the modified materials were explored as a function of time.The results show that after DBD treatment,the roughness of the sample increases by 103.9 nm,the conductivity increases by3.9?×?10~(–18)S,and the flashover voltage increases by 14.4%;after APPJ treatment,the roughness of the sample increases by 223.5 nm,the conductivity increases by 3.4?×?10~(–17)S,and the flashover voltage increases by 18%.This shows that both plasma-etching methods can improve the insulation properties of materials by improving the surface-charge characteristics.The two methods are compared with each other:the APPJ treatment method is better at improving the surface roughness and electrical properties of materials,and this flexible treatment method has greater potential in industrial applications.     

Measurement ofHe2* density with an auxiliary measuring electrode in atmospheric pressure plasma jet

In this study, the density of metastable He₂* in an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet operating in helium with 0.001% nitrogen has been measured using an auxiliary measuring electrode technique. In the glow discharge mode, waveforms from two grounding electrodes, including one main discharge electrode and one auxiliary electrode, are captured. The isolated current peak formed by Penning ionization in waveforms from the auxiliary measuring electrode is identified to calculate the density of metastable He₂*. In our discharge environment, the helium metastable densities along the jet axis direction are between 2.26× 10¹³ and 1.74× 10¹³ cm^-3, which is in good agreement with the results measured by other techniques. This measurement technique can be conveniently applied to the diagnosis of metastableHe₂* in an atmospheric-pressure plasma jet array.     

Visualization of particulates distribution from electrode erosion

Particulates generated from electrode erosion in gas spark gap is inevitable and may initiate selfbreakdown behavior with high risk.Traditionally,this problem is addressed by empirical method qualitatively.To push this old problem forward,this paper conducts laser confocal microscopy measurement of eroded surface and a statistical method is introduced to obtain visualization of particulates distribution from electrode erosion after different shots.This method allows dense particulates to be classified with their heights in z direction and scattered figures of particulates within certain height range are obtained.Results indicate that the higher-than-10 μm particulates start to emerge after 200 discharge shots and particulates number has a waved radial distribution with a 0.5 mm wide deposition zone.Based on these quantitative results,the risk of reignition and field-distortion failure that are triggered by particulates can be assessed.     

The influence of grounded electrode positions on the evolution and characteristics of an atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in Ar with various grounded electrode arrangements is employed to investigate the effects of electrode arrangement on the characteristics of the APPJ.Electrical and optical methods are used to characterize the plasma properties.The discharge modes of the APPJ with respect to applied voltage are studied for grounded electrodepositions of 10 mm,40 mm and 80 mm,respectively,and the main discharge and plasma parameters are investigated.It is shown that an increase in the distance between the grounded electrode and high-voltage electrode results in a change in the discharge modes and discharge parameters.The discharges transit from having two discharge modes,dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and jet,to having three,corona,DBD and jet,with increase in the distance from the grounded to the high-voltage electrodes.The maximum length of the APPJ reaches 3.8 cm at an applied voltage of 8 kV.The discharge power and transferred charges and spectral line intensities for species in the APPJ are influenced by the positions of the grounded electrode,while there is no obvious difference in the values of the electron excited temperature (EET) for the three grounded electrode positions.     

Competitive effect between roughness and mask pattern on charging phenomena during plasma etching

In the plasma etching process, the edge roughness and mask pattern usually play a significant role in the deformation of holes under the influence of the charging effect. The competitive effect between these two factors has been investigated, focusing on the surface charging in a hexagonal array, with various values of roughness parameters (amplitude (A) and wavelength (W)) and distances between holes (L). A series of classical particle dynamic simulations of surface charging, surface etching and profile evolution were used to investigate the effect of roughness and pattern on charging. This study showed that various roughness and patterns (represented by different values of L) can significantly influence surface distributions of the electric-field (E-field) and the etching rates on the mask surface. The simulations also showed that (1) the shape of the pattern array influences the mask hole profile during the etching process, i.e. a hexagonal array pattern tends to deform the profile of a circular mask hole into a hexagonal hole; (2) pattern roughness is aggravated during the etching process. These factors were found to be significant only at a small feature pitch and may be ignored at a large feature pitch. Possible mechanisms of these results during the etching process are discussed. This work sheds light on the ways to maintain pattern integrity and further improve the quality of the pattern transfer onto the substrate.     

Measurement of the correlation spectrum of electrostatic potential fluctuations in an ECRH Helimak plasma

Measurements of the length and time scales of turbulent potential fluctuations were carried out on the MIT Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF). Plasmas were produced by ECRF heating in a novel toroidal configuration which we have termed the Helimak. The configuration consists of a toroidal fieldB of approximately 800 gauss and a vertical fieldB _z of typically 10 gauss, produced by a Helmholtz coil.T _e is approximately 10 eV. The density exhibited a peaked profile havingn _max 2×10¹⁰ cm^–3 and a density gradient scale length of 10 cm. The fluctuation experiments were conducted using a mobile vertical array of eight Langmuir probes. At major radii outside the density peak, the vertical correlation lengths _c of fluctuations were found to be on the order of 5–10 cm for fluctuation frequencies below 3–8 kHz, and on the order of 1–2 cm at higher frequencies. At major radii on the inner slope of the density peak, a new feature appears in the spatial coherence function consisting of a second peak at a probe separation which scales linearly with vertical field. This observation indicates that these fluctuations have a correlation length on the order of 2R ₀600 cm in the direction parallel to the helical magnetic field lines.     

Discharge electrode configuration effects on the performance of a plasma sparker

A multi-electrode array is commonly applied in a plasma sparker to generate stable acoustic pulses.In this paper,the effects of the electrode configuration on the performance of a plasma sparker have been investigated.In terms of the load electrical characteristics,the electrode radius and distance have negligible influence on the electric characteristics,whereas a larger electrode number results in a smaller voltage and a larger current but has little effect on the load energy.Regarding the acoustic characteristics,both the expansion and collapse pulses can be increased by decreasing the electrode tip radius.the influence of the electrode number and electrode gap distance on the amplitude of the expansion pulse was found to be negligible.And the amplitude of the collapse pulse decreases significantly with increasing electrode number.Increasing the electrode number decreases the energy efficiency for intense bubble interactions,thus,a small electrode tip radius and a small electrode number are preferred for the design of a plasma sparker if the total discharge energy is given.     

The structure of an electronegative magnetized plasma sheath with non-extensive electron distribution

In this paper, an electronegative magnetized plasma sheath model with non-extensive electron distribution is established, and the Bohm criterion affected by the non-extensive parameter q is theoretically derived. The ion Mach number varies with q. The numerical simulation results show that compared with electronegative magnetized plasma sheath with Maxwell distribution (q = 1), the sheath structures with super-extensive distribution (q < 1) and sub-extensive distribution (q > 1) are different. The physical quantities including the sheath potential distribution, ion density distribution, the electron density distribution, negative ion density distribution and the net space charge density distribution are discussed. It is shown that the non-extensive parameter q has a significant influence on the structure of the electronegative magnetized plasma sheath. Due to the Lorentz force, both the magnitude and the angle of the magnetic field affect the structure of the sheath, whether the electrons are Maxwell distributed or non-extensively distributed.     

High-efficiency removal of NO_x using dielectric barrier discharge nonthermal plasma with water as an outer electrode

With the rapid increase in the number of cars and the development of industry, nitrogen oxide(NO_x)emissions have become a serious and pressing problem. This work reports on the development of a water-cooled dielectric barrier discharge reactor for gaseous NOxremoval at low temperature. The characteristics of the reactor are evaluated with and without packing of the reaction tube with 2 mm diameter dielectric beads composed of glass, ZnO, MnO_2, ZrO_2, or Fe_2O_3. It is found that the use of a water-cooled tube reduces the temperature, which stabilizes the reaction, and provides a much greater NO conversion efficiency(28.8%) than that obtained using quartz tube(14.1%) at a frequency of 8 k Hz with an input voltage of 6.8 k V. Furthermore,under equivalent conditions, packing the reactor tube with glass beads greatly increases the NO conversion efficiency to 95.85%. This is because the dielectric beads alter the distribution of the electric field due to the influence of polarization at the glass bead surfaces, which ultimately enhances the plasma discharge intensity. The presence of the dielectric beads increases the gas residence time within the reactor. Experimental verification and a theoretical basis are provided for the industrial application of the proposed plasma NO removal process employing dielectric bead packing.     

Reactive ion etching of PECVD silicon nitride in SF6 plasma

The reactive ion etching of PECVD silicon nitride thin films has been investigated using SF₆ plasma. Effects of variations of process parameters such as pressure (50–350 mTorr), RF power (50–250 W), gas flow rate (3–130 sccm) and additions of O₂ and He (0–50%) in SF₆, on the PECVD silicon nitride etch rate and selectivity to the AZ 1350J photoresist were examined. An etch rate of 1 μm/min has been obtained under the condition of 150 mTorr, 100 W and 60 sccm. Experimental results also indicated a maximum etch rate at approximately 30% O₂ while addition of He showed only dilution effect. A nitride/photoresist selectivity ranging from 1 to 3:1 has been obtained.     

Boiling induced macroscopic erosion of plasma facing components in fusion devices

During plasma instabilities in tokamak devices, metallic plasma facing components (PFC) can undergo surface melting and vaporization. Macroscopic losses of melt layers developed during these instabilities are of a serious concern to the lifetime of PFC, the damage of nearby components, and potential core plasma contamination. Due to the presence of impurities and dissolved gas, boiling occurs in the superheated melt layer. The growing bubbles burst at the melt layer surface and induce the ejection of jet-droplets, therefore, contributing significantly to the erosion of PFC. In the present work, the boiling mechanism is investigated using a one-dimensional moving boundary model accounting for heating, melting, vaporization, and re-solidification. The collapse of a single bubble cavity and the jet formation, investigated numerically using computational fluid dynamics simulations, shows the amount of ejected jet-droplet is about ～1% of the initial bubble volume for liquid tungsten and aluminum. The intensity of boiling decreases with the pressure in the melt layer and increases with the incident heat flux. Simulations and experiments show similar results on the boiling characteristics of tungsten and aluminum. The simple and realistic model of the boiling induced erosion, presented here, allows better understanding of the mechanisms threatening the lifetime of the metallic PFC.     

Tokamak edge plasma rotation in the presence of the biased electrode

Electrode biasing system was designed, constructed, and installed on the IR-T1 tokamak, and then biasing experiments were carried out. Also, using a Mach probes the effects of radial electric field (produced by biased electrode) on the poloidal and toroidal components of the edge plasma velocity were investigated. The results showed an increase in both toroidal and poloidal components of the edge plasma velocity during biasing regime. Results compared and discussed. During positive biasing, increased E_r tends to slow the poloidal rotation in the electron diamagnetic drift direction, i.e., to speed up rotation in the ion diamagnetic drift direction. An increased toroidal rotation velocity has the opposite effect on the poloidal rotation.