Arrays of addressable microcavity plasma devices

Addressable microcavity plasma devices with two- or three-electrode, dielectric barrier designs have been fabricated in 20 × 20 or 50 × 50 device arrays in Si(100) and characterized in the rare gases. Each device comprises a metal/Si electrode structure, a dielectric stack, and an inverted square pyramid microcavity having an emitting aperture of 50 × 50 μm² or 100 × 100 μm². Arrays with filling factors of 11% and 25% [for (100 μm² and (50 μm² device arrays, respectively] and a crossed electrode (passive matrix) geometry exhibit operating voltages in Ne of ∼220-300 V (RMS) when driven by a 20-kHz sinusoidal driving voltage. Displacement currents are ∼50% of those for previous Si microplasma device arrays, and when exciting the array with 100-140-V pulses, the rise time of the wavelength-integrated fluorescence is observed to be < 600 ns for pure Ne or Ne/5%Xe gas mixtures at a pressure of 700 torr. A full address and sustain pulse sequence has also been demonstrated with a symmetrical three-electrode device structure.