ABSTRACT
Increasingly stringent rules governing the use of ethylene oxide have created an interest in developing alternative low-temperature sterilization technologies. One such technology uses low-temperature gas plasmas to kill microorganisms. This chapter describes low-temperature plasmas, basic plasma chemistry, the equipment used to create plasmas, and the performance of plasma sterilizers. The man-made plasmas used for sterilization are in the category known as low-temperature glow discharges. Fluorescent lights and neon lights are also in this category. These plasmas are formed by applying an electric field to a gas. The plasma reaches a steady state when the rate of formation of charged particles matches the rate of their destruction. Gas particles move fairly quickly, so it takes very little time to establish a steady state once a field is applied to the gas. All low-pressure plasma reactors have several common features: a vacuum chamber and a vacuum pump, a power source to supply the requisite electrical field, and a source of gas.
