Tuning Electrode Properties and Surface Contacts for Uniform Deposits Produced by Atmospheric Plasma Dielectric Barrier Discharge Reactors

ABSTRACTAn investigation of the effect of experimental parameters on the temperature and uniformity of material deposition by atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) planar plasma reactors was conducted. The apparatus consisted of a pulsed AC high voltage power source with various electrode materials (aluminum, copper wire mesh, and aluminum/copper wire mesh) operating under a range of load resistances. Possible effects of non-ideal interfacial conditions for the contact surface between the electrode and the substrate were also studied with various modified surface thermal conditions. It was found that a hybrid electrode design with a fine copper (Cu) wire mesh attached to an aluminum plate of approximately 3 mm thickness produced the most visually uniform deposit, presumably as a result of both the superior conductivity provided by the Al metal plate and the stable plasma resulting from the relatively low breakdown voltage by using helium (He) as the dilution gas. Although the experimental conditions of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) are often specific to particular systems and applications, this work provides insights on technical details which can be applied to various plasma DBD reactors.