» Research » Department of Materials Physics » Experimental plasma science group » Negative ion researchPlasmas are used for an enormous range of practical applications, from light sources and lasers to surgery and making computer chips, among many others. The commercial and technical value of low temperature plasmas (Te < 5 eV) is well established and modern society would simply be less advanced in the absence of low temperature plasmas. Much of this benefit has resulted from empirical development. As technology becomes more complex and addresses new fields, such as energy and biotechnology, empiricism rapidly becomes inadequate to advance the state of the art. For this reason, low temperature plasma science is a field on the verge of an intellectual revolution.
Low-temperature electronegative plasmas are used in the development of modern technologies such as semiconductor manufacturing, high-energy neutral beam sources for fusion applications, plasma thrusters and materials processing. These plasmas often contain a significant fraction of negative ions. The presence of the negative ions, along with electrons, neutrals and positive ions, leads to a very complex system. In particular, the presence of a negative ion population in the plasma alters the positive ion flux, reduces the electron density, changes the electron temperature, modifies the spatial structure of the discharge and can cause unstable operation. Hence, the presence of negative ions opens a new field of plasma physics and plasma chemistry.
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