A Low-Cost Cold Plasma Generator Circuits Designed for Laboratory Applications

Abstract

The generation of cold plasma is applied to different processes as grinding of rocks, hardening of metals and sterilization of food. To obtain cold plasma in a vacuum chamber, it is necessary to partially ionize the gas between the electrodes, generating high voltage pulses of the order of microseconds. The repetition frequencies of these pulses depend on the specific application. The design of the power sources can include a synthetic pulse formation line (PFN) triggered or using vacuum valves or static converter arrays. In laboratory applications where applications for cold plasma are studied, it is convenient for safety to design automatized systems for plasma characterization. This work presents the design of a pulsating source and its attached measurements systems, presenting the procedures and auxiliary circuits for real time plasma characterization on a digital based system.