The Characteristics of Columniform Surface Wave Plasma Excited Around a Quartz Rod by 2.45 GHz Microwaves

A novel surface wave plasma (SWP) source excited with cylindrical Teflon waveguide has been developed in our previous work. The plasma characteristics have been simply studied. In this work, our experimental device has been significantly improved by replacing the Teflon waveguide with a quartz rod, and then better microwave coupling and higher gas purity can be obtained during plasma discharge. The plasma spatial distributions, both in radial and axial directions, have been measured and the effect of gas pressure has been investigated. Plasma density profiles indicate that this plasma source can produce uniform plasma in an axial direction at low pressure, which shows its potential in plasma processing on a curved surface such as an inner tube wall. A simplified circular waveguide model has been used to explain the principle of plasma excitation. The distinguishing features and potential application of this kind of plasma source with a hardware improvement have been shown. (paper)