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Plasma-on-a-chip

Atmospheric plasma technology has been much of interest due to its versatile usages, such as air pollution control and analytic spectroscopy.  Advantage of atmospheric plasma technology includes simplicity of plasma generation by eliminating a vacuum pump.  But it is very hard to sustain stable atmospheric plasma due to arc transition and a high operating voltage. We have developed plasma-on-a-chip for atmospheric plasma generation at a low voltage. Using MEMS technology, an array of precisely controlled micron gaps can be fabricated and it enables plasma generation over a scalable area with a low cost. Stable atmospheric plasma has been successfully demonstrated at 250 V using an array of the microelectrode (JVST. B 2007, JJAP 2009). 

Fig 1. Atmospheric plasma generation	Fig.2  SEM images of a micro electrode array

Battery-operated flexible plasma chip

Micro electrode can be built on a flexible substrate and it enables atmospheric plasma generation on any curved surface as well as flat one. Use of dielectric barrier discharge(DBD) offers stable atmospheric plasma. Plasma-on-a-chip will open up a new opportunity of atmospheric plasma technology, such as plasma medicine or electric wind aircrafts.

Fig 1. Battery operated plasma	Fig 2. Atmospheric plasma generation on flexible substrate