MICRODISCHARGE DEVICES FABRICATED IN SILICON

Cylindrical microdischarge cavities 200-400 mu m in diameter and 0.5-5 mm in depth have been fabricated in silicon and operated at room temp erature with neon or nitrogen at specific power loadings beyond 10 kW/ cm(3). The discharges are azimuthally uniform and stable operation at N-2 and Ne pressures exceeding 1 atm and similar to 600 Torr, respecti vely, has been realized for 400 mu m diameter devices. Spectroscopic m easurements on neon discharges demonstrate that the device behaves as a hollow cathode discharge for pressures >50 Torr. As evidenced by emi ssion from Ne and Ne+ (P-2,F-2) states as well as N-2 (C-->B) fluoresc ence (316-492 nm), these discharge devices are intense sources of ultr aviolet and visible radiation and are suitable for fabrication as arra ys. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.