Fabrication of a multilayered low-temperature cofired ceramic micro-plasma-generating device

Plasma technology is currently being used in innumerable industrial applications. Some of the common uses of this technology include surface cleaning and treatment, sputtering and etching of semiconductor devices, excitation source for chemical analyses, cutting, environmental cleanup, sterilization, and phototherapy. The harsh conditions that these devices must endure require robust refractory materials systems for their fabrication and reliability. Low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) material systems provide a durable and cost-effective platform for the manufacture of such devices, and allow for possible integration into meso-scale microsystems. Our designs are based on RF microstriplines that capacitively couple and ionize small gas discharge sites over the top electrode. In this paper, we have built several iterations of this micro-plasma generating device using LTCC material systems. The impact of electrode ink selection and processing, lamination methods, dielectric layer thickness, and electrode design has been investigated. Several micro-plasma-generating devices were then evaluated for power requirements, output stability, and long-term reliability.