Preliminary Exploration on the Low-Pressure Ar-O2 Plasma Generated by Low-Frequency Alternating Current (AC) Power Supply

TL;DR

This paper explores a novel low-frequency AC power supply for generating low-pressure Ar-O2 plasma, demonstrating its effectiveness and potential advantages over traditional RF systems in applications like sterilization.

Contribution

Introduces a low-frequency AC power supply method for plasma generation, offering a cost-effective, compact, and simple alternative to RF systems with comparable plasma properties.

Findings

AC plasma effectively reduces bacterial growth

Plasma properties similar to RF systems

Potential for more economical plasma applications

Abstract

This study reports a low-frequency alternating current (AC) power supply as a novel approach for generating low-pressure capacitively coupled Ar-O2 plasma, offering advantages in cost, compactness, and operational simplicity, which are crucial for both material science and biological applications. The effectiveness of low-frequency AC-generated plasma against traditional RF systems by examining key plasma parameters such as electron density, electron temperature, and electron energy distribution function (EEDF), are investigated. Experimental results revealed that AC power supply could effectively produce low pressure Ar-O2 plasma with comparable properties to RF systems. Most notably, the AC-generated plasma achieved a significant reduction in bacterial growth, suggesting its potential as a more economical and flexible alternative for enhancing plasma-assisted applications in sterilization and material processing.