A high-repetition nanosecond pulsed glow discharge plasma at a gas pressure of 1 kPa was generated using a SiC-MOSFET inverter power supply for diamond-like carbon (DLC) film preparation. At a high repetition frequency above 50 kHz, the period of the nanosecond voltage pulse became shorter than the decay time of the afterglow plasma, and many ions and radicals remained in the gap space. The deposition rate was 0.1 µm/min, which was 5 times higher than that of a conventional plasma CVD process. An increase in hardness to 13 GPa and a decrease in hydrogen content in the DLC film were confirmed by increasing the repetition frequency to 200 kHz.
Two discharge modes, α and γ, of a repetitive nanosecond pulsed helium glow discharge at a gas pressure of 10 kPa in the repetition frequency range from 20 to 600 kHz are reported for the first time. The pulsed glow discharge is produced in a pair of parallel plate metal electrodes without insertion of dielectrics. The α mode discharge is volumetrically produced in the electrode gap at a low-repetition frequency, whereas the γ mode discharge is localized at the cathode surface at a high-repetition frequency. At high-repetition frequency, the time interval between voltage pulses is shorter than the lifetime of the afterglow produced by the preceding discharge. Then, the γ mode discharge is maintained by a large number of secondary electrons emitted from the cathode exposed to high-density ions and metastable helium atoms in the afterglow. In the α mode discharge with a low-repetition frequency operation, primary electrons due to gas ionization dominate the ionization process. Thus, a large discharge voltage is needed for the excitation of the α mode discharge. It is established that the bifurcation of α-γ discharge mode, accompanied by a decrease in the discharge voltage, occurs at the high-repetition frequency of ∼120 kHz.
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