Discharge Characteristics of SF6 in a Non-Uniform Electric Field Under Repetitive Nanosecond Pulses

The characteristics of high pressure sulphur hexafluoride (SF ₆ ) discharges in a highly non-uniform electric field under repetitive nanosecond pulses are investigated in this paper. The influencing factors on discharge process, such as gas pressure, pulse repetition frequency (PRF), and number of applied pulses, are analyzed. Experimental results show that the corona intensity weakens with the increase of gas pressure and strengthens with the increase of PRF or number of applied pulses. Spark discharge images suggest that a shorter and thicker discharge plasma channel will lead to a larger discharge current. The number of applied pulses to breakdown descends with the increase of PRF and ascends with the rise of gas pressure. The reduced electric field (E/p) decreases with the increase of PRF in all circumstances. The experimental results provide significant supplements to the dielectric characteristics of strongly electronegative gases under repetitive nanosecond pulses.     

The detailed characteristics of positive corona current pulses in the line-to-plane electrodes

The corona current pulses generated by corona discharge are the sources of the radio interference from transmission lines and the detailed characteristics of the corona current pulses from conductor should be investigated in order to reveal their generation mechanism. In this paper, the line-to-plane electrodes are designed to measure and analyze the characteristics of corona current pulses from positive corona discharges. The influences of inter-electrode gap and line diameters on the detail characteristics of corona current pulses, such as pulse amplitude, rise time, duration time and repetition frequency, are carefully analyzed. The obtained results show that the pulse amplitude and the repetition frequency increase with the diameter of line electrode when the electric fields on the surface of line electrodes are same. With the increase of inter-electrode gap,the pulse amplitude and the repetition frequency first decrease and then turn to be stable, while the rise time first increases and finally turns to be stable. The distributions of electric field and space charges under the line electrodes are calculated, and the influences of inter-electrode gap and line electrode diameter on the experimental results are qualitatively explained.     

MICROMEGAS: high rate and radiation hardness results

In this report, we present results of gain studies using various gas mixtures in a novel structure of a gaseous detector called MICROMEGAS which is under development at Saclay. We in particular studied the maximum of gain achievable with MICROMEGAS before the discharge. We tried various gas mixtures (argon, neon, CF₄) with various proportions of quencher (isobutane, cyclohexane, DME). We also studied the radiation hardness of MICROMEGAS using argon-isobutane and CF₄-isobutane mixtures     

Numerical analysis of thermal plasma scrubber for CF4 decomposition

CF₄ gas emitted in the semiconductor and display manufacturing process is a very harmful greenhouse gas. It must be removed or converted safely due to its extreme toxicity. Although a CF₄ decomposition system using a thermal plasma scrubber was commercialized, its removal efficiency is limited. In this work, a numerical analysis of CF₄ decomposition in the thermal plasma scrubber was carried out in order to propose an efficient decomposition environment. The decomposition and recombination temperatures of CF₄ were analyzed using thermodynamic equilibrium calculations. The chemical reaction of CF₄ decomposition into carbon and fluorine gas was considered in this numerical analysis. The injection position and angle of the CF₄ were controlled in order to enhance the decomposition rate. The vertical injection of CF₄ near the torch exit improved the mixing of the CF₄ with the thermal plasma flame. In addition, it was confirmed that the high temperature region expanded due to a vortex generated by strong turbulence in the bottleneck-shaped reactor. As a result, it is revealed that the CF₄ injection location and the reactor configuration are the most important factors in improving the decomposition rate.     

The Electronegativity Analysis of c-C4F8 as a Potential Insulation Substitute of SF6

The density distributions related to gas electronegativity for c-C₄F₈ gas, including negative ion, electron number and electron energy densities in the discharge process, are derived theoretically in both plane-to-plane and point-to-plane electrode geometries. These calculations have been performed through the Boltzmann equation in the condition of a steady-state Townsend (SST) experiment and a fluid model in the condition of both uniform and non-uniform electric fields. The electronegativity coefficients a = n−/ne of c-C₄F₈ and SF₆ are compared to further describe the electron affinity of c-C₄F₈. The result shows that c-C₄F₈ represents an obvious electron-attachment performance in the discharge process. However, c-C₄F₈ still has much weaker gas electronegativity than SF₆, whose electronegativity coe?cient is lower than that of SF₆ by at least three orders of magnitude.     

Surface properties of Al-doped ZnO thin film before and after CF4/Ar plasma etching

Al-doped ZnO (AZO) is considered as an alternative to transparent conductive oxide materials. Patterning and achieving a stable surface are important challenges in the development and optimization of dry etching processes, which must be overcome for the application of AZO in various devices. Therefore, in this study, the etch rate and surface properties of an AZO thin film after plasma etching using the adaptive coupled plasma system were investigated. The fastest etch rate was achieved with a CF₄/Ar ratio of 50:50 sccm. Regardless of the ratio of CF₄ to Ar, the transmittance of the film in the visible region exceeded 80%. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the AZO thin film confirmed that metal-F bonding persists on the surface after plasma etching. It was also shown that F eliminates O vacancies. Consequently, the work function and bandgap energy increased as the ratio of CF₄ increased. This study not only provides information on the effect of plasma on AZO thin film, but identifies the cause of changes in the device characteristics during device fabrication.     

Plasma-assisted surface modification and radical diagnostics

Plasma-assisted deposition and etching have widely been applied to microelectronics devices in industries as well as to huge vacuum devices in nuclear fusion. A more detailed understanding of plasma processing is essential for development of new techniques for small-scale ( ) etching and large-scale ( >10 m) deposition. A scaling law for uniformity of large-scale deposition was found in a simulation experiment of boron coating of fusion devices, using a less hazardous boride B₁₀H₁₄ (decaborane). Moreover, boron etching by a fluorocarbon plasma was demonstrated along with a new modeling of surface-coverage effects. Appearance mass spectrometry which is a powerful tool for neutral radical detection, has successfully been applied to a CF₄ containing RF plasma for semiconductor etching. Addition of a small amount of H₂ into CF₄ drastically modified the kinetics of CF₂ and CF₃ radicals as a result of surface processes.     

Improving plasma sterilization by constructing a plasma photocatalytic system with a needle array corona discharge and Au plasmonic nanocatalyst

Efficient sterilization by a plasma photocatalytic system(PPS) requires strong synergy between plasma and photocatalyst to inactivate microorganisms while suppressing the formation of secondary pollutants.Here,we report that a PPS constructed from a needle array corona discharge and Au/TiO₂ plasmonic nanocatalyst could remarkably improve the sterilization of Escherichia coli(E.coli) and alleviate formation of the discharge pollutant O₃.At 6 kV,the combination of corona disc...     

Study on the discharge mechanism and EM radiation characteristics of Trichel pulse discharge in air

The Trichel pulse stage is an unstable stage of negative corona discharge that can also involve electromagnetic (EM) radiation signals. In this paper, the discharge mechanism and radiation characteristics of the Trichel pulse are studied in the needle-plate electrode configuration. The Trichel pulse current and its EM radiation signals are measured at different applied voltages. The results show that Trichel pulse discharge changes from the random pulse stage to the continuous pulse stage as the applied voltage increases. During these different stages, the normalized shape of the Trichel pulses remains unchanged, while the frequency of the EM radiation generated by the discharge remains unchanged. The discharge mechanism and EM radiation characteristics of the Trichel pulse are theoretically analyzed in the different stages. Both the positive ion sheath and the negative ion cloud play key roles in the formation of the Trichel pulse. The EM radiation signal is generated by the rapidly changing Trichel pulse current, and the Trichel pulse current waveform determines the characteristics of the EM radiation signal.     

Study of partial discharge characteristics in HFO-1234ze(E)/N2 mixtures

HFO-1234ze(E)(trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene, chemical formula: C₃H₂F₄) is an extremely environmentally friendly SF₆ alternative gas with high electrical strength. In this paper, the partial discharge (PD) characteristics of HFO-1234ze(E)/N₂ mixtures were studied using the gas insulation test platform. The PD inception voltage of insulating gas under positive and negative half cycles of power frequency was tested. Using SF₆/N₂ mixtures as a control group, the effects of electrode spacing, mixing ratio and pressure on the insulation performance of HFO-1234ze(E)/N₂ mixtures were explored. The test results show that the PD inception voltage of the negative half-cycle of pure HFO-1234ze(E) under short electrode spacing can reach 0.96–1.04 times of pure SF₆ under different pressures; the PD inception voltage of 40%HFO-1234ze(E)/60%N₂ mixtures at 0.3 MPa is 0.67–0.89 times that of SF₆/N₂ mixtures under the same conditions, which has great application prospect.     

A Simplified Numerical Study of the Kr/Cl2 Plasma Chemistry in Dielectric Barrier Discharge

In this paper, the generation of excimers and exciplexe radiation in mixtures of rare gas with halogen by homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） is investigated. The typical characteristics of an excilamp based on KrCl exciplexe molecules and the kinetic processes for the formation and the decay of this molecules in the Kr/Cl₂ mixture are studied. The computer model developed is based on the Kr/Cl₂ mixture chemistry, the equivalent electric circuit and the Boltzmann equations. The importance in the kinetic processes of some species such as the metastable state of Krypton （Kr（3P0,2）） and the negative ion of chloride （Cl） is considered. The results illustrate the time variations of charged species （ne,Kr+,Cl,Cl+,Cl+2,Kr+2）, excited atoms and molecules （Kr（3P0,2）, Kr（3P1）, Cl, Cl2）, the excimers （Kr2,KrCl（B）,KrCl（C）,Kr2Cl） and the UV photon concentrations （in 222nm,235nm,258nm and 325nm range）. The effects of chlorine concentration and the total gas pressure in the Kr-Cl₂ discharge on the electric parameters and radiation emissions are investigated.     

Study of spatial and temporal evolution of Ar and F atoms in SF6/Ar microsecond pulsed discharge by optical emission spectroscopy

The study of sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆) discharge is vital for its application in gas-insulated equipment. Direct current partial discharge (PD) may cause SF₆ decomposition, and the decomposed products of SF₆, such as F atoms, play a dominant role in the breakdown of insulation systems. In this study, the PD caused by metal protrusion defects is simulated by a needle-plate electrode using pulsed high voltage in SF₆/Ar mixtures. The spatial and temporal characteristics of SF6/Ar plasma are analyzed by measuring the emission spectra of F and Ar atoms, which are important for understanding the characteristics of PD. The spatial resolved results show that both F and Ar atom spectral intensities increase first from the plate anode to the needle and then decrease under the conditions of a background pressure of 400 Pa, peak voltage of −1000 V, frequency of 2 kHz, pulse width of 60 μs, and electrode gap of 5–9 mm. However, the distribution characteristics of F and Ar are significantly different. The temporal distribution results show that the spectral intensity of Ar decreases first and then increases slowly, while the spectral intensity of F increases slowly for the duration of the pulsed discharge at the electrode gap of 5 mm and the pulse width of 40–80 μs.     

New production systems at ISOLDE

New target systems for the ISOLDE on-line mass separator facility are presented. Targets of carbides, metal/graphite mixtures, foils of refractory metals, molten metals and oxides have been tested. Beams of high intensity of neutron-rich isotopes of a large number of elements are obtained from a uranium carbide target with a hot plasma-discharge ion source. A target of ZrO₂ has been shown to provide high intensity beams of neutron-deficient isotopes of Mn, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Br, Kr and Rb, while a SiC target with a hot plasma ion source gives intense beams of radioactive isotopes of a number of light elements. All these systems are rather chemically unselective. Chemically selective performance has been obtained for several systems, i.e.: the production of neutron-deficient Au from (³He, pχn) reactions on a Pt/graphite target with a hot plasma ion source; the production of neutron-deficient Lu and LuF⁺ and Hf and HfF₃⁺ from a Ta-foil target with a hot plasma ion source under CF₄ addition; the production of neutron-deficient Sr as SrF⁺ and Y as YF₂⁺ form a Nb-foil target with a W surface ionizer under CF₄ addition; the production of neutron-deficient Se as COSe⁺ from a ZrO₂ target with a hot plasma ion source under O₂ addition; and the production of radioactive F from a SiC target with a hot plasma ion source operating in Al vapour.     

Volume added surface barrier discharge plasma excited by bipolar nanosecond pulse power in atmospheric air: optical emission spectra influenced by gap distance

In this paper, volume barrier discharge with different gap distances is added on the discharge border of high-voltage electrode of annular surface barrier discharge for generating volume added surface barrier discharge (V-SBD) excited by bipolar nanosecond high-voltage pulse power in atmospheric air. The excited V-SBDs consist of surface barrier discharge (d=0 mm) and volume added surface barrier discharges (d=2 mm and 3 mm). The optical emission spectra are recorded for calculating emission intensities of N₂ (C ³Ⅱ_u →B³Π_g ) and N₂⁺ (B ²Σ_u⁺ → X ²Σ_g⁺ ), and simulating rotational and vibrational temperatures. The influences of gap distance of V-SBD on emission intensity and plasma temperature are also investigated and analyzed. The results show that d=0 mm structure can excite the largest emission intensity of N ₂ (C ³ Π_u →B ³Π_g ), while the existence of volume barrier discharge can delay the occurrence of the peak value of the emission intensity ratio of N₂⁺ (B ²Σ_u⁺ → X ²Σ_g⁺ )/N ₂(C³Π_u →B³Π_g ) during the rising period of the applied voltage pulse and weaken it during the end period. The increasing factor of emission intensity is effected by the pulse repetition rate. The d=3 mm structure has the highest threshold voltage while it can maintain more emission intensity of N₂(C³ Π _u →B ³Π_g ) than that of d=2 mm structure. The structure of d=2 mm can maintain more increasing factor than that of the d=3 mm structure with varying pulse repetition rate. Besides, the rotational temperatures of three V-SBD structures are slightly affected when the gap distance and pulse repetition rate vary. The vibrational temperatures have decaying tendencies of all three structures with the increasing pulse repetition rate.     

用于CSNS反角白光中子源的双屏栅电离室设计及性能研究

为测量中国散裂中子源（China Spallation Neutron Source, CSNS）反角白光中子源150 keV以下能区飞行时间法中子能谱,研制基于¹⁰B(n, α)⁷Li和⁶Li(n, t)α核反应的双屏栅电离室,采用薄窗和薄底衬的结构设计。通过Garfield++、SRIM和Simcenter Magnet Electric程序对屏栅电离室的工作气体、极间距和电场分布等工作参数进行模拟设计,并采用α源及CF₄、P10、90%Ar-10%CO₂三种气体对电离室进行性能参数测试。结果表明,选定电子漂移速度快、扩散系数小,以及阻止本领大的CF4作为CSNS/Back-n束上测试工作气体,阴极-栅极和栅极-阳极间距分别为20 mm和5 mm。屏栅电离室收集区74 mm范围内是电场均匀区,场强的相对偏差≤0.03%;性能测试结果表明,工作气体为CF₄时,电离室对²³⁹Pu/²⁴¹Am/²⁴⁴Cm混合α面源具有很好的能量分辨,最佳能量分辨率为2.4%@5.48 MeV。对比平板型电离室和硅微条探测器的测量结果,验证了本工作研制的屏栅型电离室的能量分辨优势。     

Theoretical research on the transport and ionization rate coefficients in glow discharge dusty plasma

The electron kinetic model for investigating the transport and ionization rate coefficients of argon glow discharge dusty plasma is developed from the Boltzmann equation.Both of the electron-neutral and electron-dust collisions are considered as collision terms in the kinetic equation.The kinetic equation is simplified by employing the local approximation and nonlocal approach under the same discharge conditions,and the corresponding simplified kinetic equations are known as local and nonlocal kinetic equations respectively.Then the electron energy distribution function(EEDF)is obtained by numerically solving the local and nonlocal kinetic equations and the dust charging equations simultaneously.Based on the obtained EEDFs,the effective electron temperature,electron mobility,electron diffusion coefficient and ionization rate coefficient are calculated for different discharge conditions.It is shown that the EEDFs calculated from the local kinetic model clearly differ from the nonlocal EEDFs and both the local and nonlocal EEDFs are also clearly different with Maxwellian distributions.The appearance of dust particles results in an obvious decrease of high energy electrons and increase of low energy electrons when axial electric field is low.With the increase of axial electric field,the influence of dust particles on the EEDFs becomes smaller.The electron mobility and diffusion coefficients calculated on the basis of local and nonlocal EEDFs do not differ greatly to the dust-free ones.While,when dust density nd=10^6 cm^?3,the electron mobility increases obviously compared with the dust-free results at low axial electric field and decreases with the increasing axial electric field until they are close to the dust-free ones.Meanwhile,electron diffusion coefficients for dusty case become smaller and decrease with the increasing axial electric field.The ionization rate coefficients decrease when dust particles are introduced and they approach the dust-free results gradually with the increasing axial electric field.     

Influence of nitrogen impurities on the characteristics of a patterned helium dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure

In this paper, a two-dimensional axisymmetric fluid model was established to investigate the influence of nitrogen impurity content on the discharge pattern and the relevant discharge characteristics in an atmosphere pressure helium dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The results indicated that when the nitrogen content was increased from 1 to 100 ppm, the discharge pattern evolved from a concentric-ring pattern into a uniform pattern, and then returned to the concentricring pattern. In this process, the discharge mode at the current peak moment transformed from glow mode into Townsend mode, and then returned to glow mode. Further analyses revealed that with the increase of impurity level, the rate of Penning ionization at the pre-ionization stage increased at first and decreased afterwards, resulting in a similar evolution pattern of seed electron level. This evolution trend was believed to be resulted from the competition between the N₂ partial pressure and the consumption rate of metastable species. Moreover, the discharge uniformity was found positively correlated with the spatial uniformity of seed electron density as well as the seed electron level. The reason for this correlation was explained by the reduction of radial electric field strength and the promotion of seed electron uniformity as pre-ionization level increases. The results obtained in this work may help better understand the pattern formation mechanism of atmospheric helium DBD under the variation of N₂ impurity level, thereby providing a possible means of regulating the discharge performance in practical application scenarios.     

Reduced chemistries with the Quantemol database (QDB)

Typical feed gas mixtures used in technological and other plasmas may give rise to reaction networks involving several hundred reactions. Such chemistries are often too large to be used in full reactor simulations and it is therefore desirable to construct reduced chemistry networks which mimic as closely as possible the behavior of the full chemistry but employ far fewer individual reactions and species. Constructed chemistries are available from the Quantemol database (QDB) and two approaches to constructing reduced chemistry from these chemistries based on (a) physical intuition and (b) sensitivity analysis of dominant reaction pathways, are explored. In doing this it is necessary to consider different pressure and power regimes. Reduced chemistry sets are presented for CF₄ /O₂/N₂/H₂, for which 396 reactions and 52 species are reduced to 71 reactions and 26 species, and for pure O₂, for which 45 reactions and 10 species are reduced to 34 reactions.     

Effects of O2 addition on the plasma uniformity and reactivity of Ar DBD excited by ns pulsed and AC power supplies

Dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) have been widely used in ozone synthesis, materials surface treatment, and plasma medicine for their advantages of uniform discharge and high plasma-chemical reactivity. To improve the reactivity of DBDs, in this work, the O₂ is added into Ar nanosecond (ns) pulsed and AC DBDs. The uniformity and discharge characteristics of Ar ns pulsed and AC DBDs with different O₂ contents are investigated with optical and electrical diagnosis methods. The DBD uniformity is quantitatively analyzed by gray value standard deviation method. The electrical parameters are extracted from voltage and current waveforms separation to characterize the discharge processes and calculate electron density n_e. The optical emission spectroscopy is measured to show the plasma reactivity and calculate the trend of electron temperature T_e with the ratio of two emission lines. It is found that the ns pulsed DBD has a much better uniformity than AC DBD for the fast rising and falling time. With the addition of O₂, the uniformity of ns pulsed DBD gets worse for the space electric field distortion by O₂⁻, which promotes the filamentary formation. While, in AC DBD, the added O₂ can reduce the intensity of filaments, which enhances the discharge uniformity. The ns pulsed DBD has a much higher instantaneous power and energy efficiency than AC DBD. The ratio of Ar emission intensities indicates that the T_e drops quickly with the addition of O₂ both ns pulsed and AC DBDs and the ns pulsed DBD has an obvious higher T_e and n_e than AC DBD. The results are helpful for the realization of the reactive and uniform low temperature plasma sources.     

Research on corona discharge suppression of high-voltage direct-current transmission lines based on dielectric-film-covered conductor

Corona discharge suppression for high-voltage direct-current(HVDC) transmission lines at line terminals such as converter stations is a subject that requires attention. In this paper, a method based on a conductor covered with dielectric film is proposed and implemented through a bench-scale setup. Compared with the bare conductor, the corona discharge suppression effect of the dielectricfilm-covered conductor under positive polarity is studied from the composite field strength and ion current density using a line-plate experimental device. The influences of film thickness and film material on the corona discharge suppression effect are investigated. The charge accumulation and dissipation characteristics of different film materials are also studied. The results show that the conductor covered with dielectric film has excellent ability to inhibit corona discharge. The groundlevel composite field strength of the conductor covered with dielectric film is lower than its nominal field strength, and its ion current density is at the n A m~(-2) level. The corona threshold voltage can be promoted by increasing the film thickness, but the ability to inhibit corona discharge becomes weak.The larger the surface electric field strength, the more charge accumulated, but the faster the charge dissipation rate. Compared with polyvinyl chloride film, cross-linked polyethylene film has stronger charge accumulation ability and slower charge dissipation rate, which can better restrain the corona discharge of HVDC transmission lines.