Hot gases composed of metal ions and electrons, called plasmas, are widely used in many manufacturing processes, chemical synthesis, and metal extraction from ores and welding. A collaborative research group from Tohoku University and the Toyohashi University of Technology has invented a new and efficient method to create metallic plasmas from solid metals under a strong magnetic field in a microwave resonator. They report their innovation in the journal AIP Advances.
In the most conventional methods for making plasmas, a strong electric field is applied to gases or liquids. This can require enormous amounts of energy. More recently, microwave radiation has also been harnessed to generate plasmas as it converts atoms into a form that can more effectively drive desired chemical processes, among other advantages. The plasmas generated by microwaves are now being used in commercial processes, including semiconductor manufacture, diamond deposition and to release metals from their ores.
Until now, however, this has involved multi-mode microwave generators, which generate a chaotic distribution of microwaves. One key advance achieved by the team is to apply a single-mode microwave generator to produce their metal plasmas. This creates more controlled and highly focused microwaves.
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