Current status of microplasma research

Abstract

Microscale plasmas of micrometer to millimeter range have been attracting much attention in recent years. Those microplasmas generally operate at high‐pressure regions, including atmospheric pressure, and exhibit characteristics that differ from traditional plasmas at lower pressure regions in their plasma parameters and other parameters originating from their small dimensions. When those characteristics are well combined with the inherent properties of plasmas as reactive, light‐emissive and conductive/dielectric media, there appear a variety of potential applications for nano‐material syntheses, micromachining tools, microchemical analyses, photonic devices and biomaterial processing. In this article, the current status and perspective of microplasma research are reviewed from the viewpoints of plasma generation, diagnostics/simulations and new applications. © 2006 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.