Plasma treatment apparatus and plasma generation method using the apparatus

A plasma treatment apparatus for treating an object with plasma generated under a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, said apparatus comprising:

• a plasma-generation chamber having an aperture from which said plasma blows out;
• a gas supply for supplying a gas for plasma generation into said chamber;
• a pair of electrodes;
• a power source for applying an AC electric field between said electrodes to maintain said plasma in said chamber;
• a pulse generator for providing a pulse voltage;
• an ignition electrode for applying said pulse voltage to said gas supplied in said chamber to generate said plasma;
• and
• an electrode traveling means for traveling said ignition electrode between a first position where said ignition electrode is disposed in the vicinity of said aperture to apply said pulse voltage to said gas and a second position where said ignition electrode is spaced from said aperture.

A plasma treatment apparatus for treating an object with plasma generated under a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, said apparatus comprising:

• a plasma-generation chamber having an aperture from which said plasma blows out;
• a gas supply for supplying a gas for plasma generation into said chamber;
• a pair of electrodes;
• a power source for applying an AC electric field between said electrodes to maintain said plasma in said chamber;
• a pulse generator for providing a pulse voltage;
• and
• an ignition electrode for applying said pulse voltage to said gas supplied in said chamber to generate said plasma,
• wherein a magnitude of said pulse voltage provided by said pulse generator is three times or more of a voltage value applied between said pair of electrodes.

A plasma generation method using a plasma treatment apparatus comprising:

• a plasma-generation chamber having an aperture from which said plasma blows out;
• a gas supply for supplying a gas for plasma generation into said chamber;
• a pair of electrodes;
• a power source for applying an AC electric field between said electrodes to maintain said plasma in said chamber;
• a pulse generator for providing a pulse voltage;
• and
• an ignition electrode for applying said pulse voltage to said gas supplied in said chamber to generate said plasma,
• wherein the plasma generation method comprises the step of applying a pulse voltage to a gas for plasma generation under a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure by use of said ignition electrode to generate plasma in said chamber.