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Linear microplasmas have been produced within rectangular channels, 75 \times 75\ \mu\m^2 in cross section and 7 cm in length. Arrays of such channels have been fabricated in single sheets of 127-\mu\m-thick aluminum foil by a photolithographic step and an electrochemical process. Arrays comprising 20 parallel channels have been operated in the rare gases, \N2, and air at pressures in the 100–760-Torr interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rare gas microplasmas confined in one dimension to < \5\ \mu \m have been realized. Microchannels having cross sections in the form of a V-groove were fabricated in Si and microplasmas produced within the channels by means of a dielectric barrier structure in which electrodes are flush with the microgroove rim along the entire length of the channel. Stable uniform glows are generated in channels \sim5 and 50 \mu\m in width when a He/Ar or He/Ne gas mixture at a total pressure > \400 torr is introduced to the channel. The requirement for Penning gas mixtures in the narrowest channel appears to be associated with an accelerated electron loss rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SeIf-patterned Al2O3/Al microplasma devices with phosphor-coated, parabolic cross-sectional microcavities have been operated in Ne/Xe gas mixtures at pressures up to 700 torr. Arrays comprising 20 000 devices (200 × 100) having 140-µm-diameter emitting apertures produce a green luminance of 1900 cd/m² when operated in a Ne/30% Xe mixture at 500 torr. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Full addressability of arrays of Si microcavity plasma devices has been demonstrated by adopting a split top electrode design. Arrays of pyramidal microcavities with emitting apertures of 100 × 100 µm², a pixel pitch of 200 µm, and sizes as large as 512 × 512 pixels have been fabricated in 250-µm-thick Si(100) wafers. Parasitic capacitance is responsible for weak emission from adjacent microcavities when a single pixel is addressed but the suppression of nearest neighbor fluorescence with the current array design is ~6 dB. Any pixel in the array can be addressed with an rms voltage as low as 240 V when the array is operating in 500 torr of Ne. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nano porous alumina, grown by wet chemical processing on aluminum foil, has been found to be a superior dielectric for microdischarge devices. Devices in which both the Al anode and cathode are encapsulated with this dielectric, and the microcavities are cylindrical with a diameter of 100-300 μm, operate stably in 700 torr of Ne and one atmosphere of air. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable microdischarges, ∼0.5-1 mm in length, are produced in atmospheric air by extracting plasma from a (50 μm)² inverted pyramidal Si microdischarge device which serves as a plasma cathode. Both metal and dielectric lips have been successfully tested as the extraction electrode and driving frequencies up to 20 kHz have been demonstrated. The plasma column, or conduit, generated is well behaved and essentially cylindrical with a diameter smaller than the width of the Si cathode device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arrays of microdischarge devices, 100 × 100 μm² in cross section, have been fabricated in a photodefinable glass, and electrically driven by interdigitated electrodes. Operated in Ne gas at pressures from 200 to 600 torr, 5 × 5 arrays of square microdise charge pixels are bright and draw a total current of 0.4-1.5 mA for direct current operating voltages of <200 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dielectric barrier discharges between coplanar Al rods having an ∼2-μm-thick Layer of nanoporous alumina dielectric at the surface have been investigated. Rods 3 mm in diameter, 7 cm in length, and spaced by S mm produce stable and intense glow discharges in 50 torr of Ne when pairs of rods are driven by an alternating current (bipolar) waveform for which the peak voltage is ∼460-510 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The breakdown voltage (Vs) for a discharge in Ar at pressures between 35 and 300 torr has been reduced significantly with an array of cylindrical microdischarge devices mounted behind the tungsten cathode. For PAr = 50 torr, Vs drops by approximately a factor of two, relative to that for a conventional discharge, when the microdischarge array is in operation. The injection of electron-ion pairs into the anode-cathode gap region by the array also decreases the formative and statistical time lags associated with the startup of a cold lamp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]