Plasmas Devices of Flowing Plasmas and Afterglows with N\(_2\) for Surfaces Treatments and Diagnostics Results
André RICARD *
Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, 91400 Orsay, France and LAPLACE, Université Toulouse III, CNRS, 31062 Toulouse, France.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Chapter 1 reports several glow-discharge set-ups, including DC glow discharges, DC glow discharges for ion nitriding, and flowing afterglows of DC glow discharges for steel surface nitriding. Chapter 2 presents several arc-discharge systems, including the DC arc discharge, hollow-cathode arc (HCA) discharge, DC arc plasma vacuum deposition (PVD), and magnetron DC arc amplified by RF for PVD applications.
Chapter 3 is devoted to RF plasma devices, including RF reactors for plasma-enhanced chemical vacuum deposition (PECVD), RF flowing afterglows of gas mixtures containing N₂, and flowing afterglows of high-power RF jets at atmospheric gas pressure.
Chapter 4 discusses microwave plasma and afterglow devices, including surface-wave microwave plasmas, densities of N and H atoms and NH radicals in N₂-H₂ microwave afterglows, and microwave plasma jets at atmospheric gas pressure.
Chapter 5 addresses applications of microwave flowing afterglows for surface treatments, including steel surface nitriding, iron nitrocarburising, polymer treatments, and medical applications.
Chapter 6 compares RF and microwave N₂ flowing afterglow devices in relation to the densities of N atoms, N₂(A), N₂(X, v > 13) metastable molecules, and N₂⁺ ions in N₂-H₂ RF and HF afterglows; in jets of N₂ RF and HF afterglows; in N and H atom and NH radical densities in N₂-H₂ RF and microwave afterglows; in N and C atom densities in N₂-CH₄ RF and microwave afterglows; and in RF and microwave flowing afterglows for TiO₂ surface activation.
The postface summarises devices with optimal active-species densities and surface-treatment outcomes, focusing on rare-gas metastables and Ti atoms in plasmas, as well as N, H, C, and O atoms in flowing afterglows. Specific results for surface nitriding in plasma flowing afterglows are also reported.
Keywords: DC glow discharges, RF plasmas, microwave plasmas, flowing afterglows, active species, N-atom density, NO titration, TALIF, plasma nitriding, surface treatments, TiO₂ modification, plasma sterilisation