ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some of the more widely used plasma reactors according to their processing application. For some plasma surface treatment applications, a relatively thin surface layer of plasma may be more useful than the relatively large volumes of plasma provided by a parallel-plate reactor. The intermediate-pressure glow discharge sources used for surface treatment include direct current (DC) and radiofrequency parallel-plate, as well as magnetron plasma sources. Microwave plasma reactors may be used to generate active species needed for the plasma treatment of surfaces. Low-energy plasma thermal diffusion treatment is most frequently accomplished by inserting a metallic workpiece into an intermediate-pressure DC abnormal glow discharge plasma, and using the workpiece as the cathode. The geometry of the gas flow over the wafers can affect the formation of unwanted dust particles in the plasma and their deposition on the surface of the wafers.
