Fused hollow cathode cold atmospheric plasma

A fused hollow cathode (FHC) plasma source is introduced. The system of rad io-frequency (rf) generated hollow cathodes with flowing gas forms an integ rated electrode source which operates in the pressure range from 1 Torr to atmospheric pressure. The diameter of the source is 3.5 cm. However, the co nstruction perfectly enables further scaling up. The forward rf power to su stain the discharge at atmospheric pressure can be as low as 2 W. The disch arge is stable, volume filling, silent, with no streamers. The FHC atmosphe ric plasma source is very promising for surface processing, specially on te mperature sensitive substrates, and may substantially save costs by avoidin g investments into the vacuum equipment. (C) 2000 American Institute of Phy sics. [S0003-6951(00)01003-2].