Aachen PK 2003 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Downloads | Hilfe

PV: Plenarvorträge

PV X

PV X: Plenarvortrag

Donnerstag, 20. März 2003, 09:00–09:45, FO1

What makes a plasma a technologically interesting? — •Nicholas Braithwaite — The Open University, Oxford Research Unit, Oxford, OX1 5HR, UK

The expression Technological Plasma emerged in the UK in the 1990s to describe those electrical discharges that have found commercial exploitation in materials processing. The term might be applied to any non-fusion plasma that exists for other than reasons of scientific curiosity. Examples range from the relatively inert plasmas used as light sources to the aggressive media used to etch solids and clean-up gas streams. Among the higher value-added users are the semiconductor manufacturers who spent the last quarter of the twentieth century enabling the IT revolution with technological plasmas. For them, a variety of schemes have been developed that use radio frequency power to excite discharges in low-pressure gases. A fundamental theme that links together a wide range of technological plasmas involves the conversion of electrical energy into the internal energy of atoms and molecules. Thermodynamic equilibrium is generally not part of the story. Remarkably, in many cases, a complete understanding of how electrical energy is coupled in to the electrons in the first place remains elusive.