Microwave plasma

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

Additional recommended knowledge

How to quickly check pipettes?

Essential Laboratory Skills Guide

Daily Visual Balance Check

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