Metallic Plasma and its Hybrid Plasma

Abstract

Plasma‐ion processing enhances functionalities of a film, such as tribological properties and biocompatibility. Ceramic films prepared by reactive deposition and ion implantation are preferred rather than metallic film deposition by physical vapor deposition (PVD). Metallic plasma sources are indispensable for plasma‐ion processing. Cathodic arc plasma sources and magnetron sputtering discharge are typical metallic plasma sources for the processing. In addition to these sources, there have been newly developed plasma sources, in which plasmas have been generated both in a stationary and a pulsed mode. For a short duration of the generation, the plasma can be stably maintained. To prepare ceramic films, reactive gases such as nitrogen and oxygen should be activated to enhance reactions between the metallic and gaseous species. In this case, a hybrid plasma (HP) comprised of metallic and gaseous species is desirable. In order to make a large volume of HP in a simple way, gaseous plasma should be triggered by the metallic plasma. This article is a review of the electrical characteristics of the cathodic arc and its induced gaseous plasma. Copyright © 2008 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Plasma generation in aqueous solution containing volatile solutes

“…One of the general methods of plasma diagnostics is to use a Langmuir probe. 32) The current-potential profile measured by inserting the probe into plasma shows the densities of electrons and ions, plasma voltage, floating voltage, and electron temperature (T e ), which corresponds to the kinetic energy of the electrons in the plasma. Generally, the degree of plasma ionization is low, so that almost all the plasma components are electrically neutral particles such as atoms, molecules, or radicals, with a small number of charged particles.…”