Commercialization of microcavity plasma devices and arrays: Systems for VUV photolithography and nanopatterning, disinfection of drinking water and air, and biofilm deactivation for medical therapeutics

Abstract

A little more than two decades after the introduction of the first microcavity plasma devices, a growing body of commercial products based on the remarkable properties of these low-temperature, atmospheric plasmas is now available. Following a brief review of early microplasma lamp development, this article describes microplasma-based devices and systems currently being manufactured for applications in photolithography, photopatterning, and other nanofabrication processes, such as atomic layer deposition, spectroscopic identification and analysis of materials (including wide bandgap crystals), the disinfection of drinking water in off-grid communities, deactivating COVID-19 and other pathogens in air and on surfaces in public spaces, and vacuum ultraviolet lamps for driving atomic clocks. The microplasma-based treatment of otitis media in the human ear will also be discussed.