40 000 pixel arrays of ac-excited silicon microcavity plasma devices

Abstract

Arrays of ${\left(50\mu \mathrm{m}\right)}^2$ Si microcavity plasma devices, as large as $40000\text{pixels}$ $(200\times 200)$ with a packing density of ${10}^4\text{pixels}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ , have been operated continuously in $500–900\text{Torr}$ of Ne with ac excitation $(5–20\mathrm{kHz})$ . More than two orders of magnitude larger than previously reported microplasma device arrays, $200\times 200\text{pixel}$ structures produce uniform glow discharges in each pixel, have a power consumption of $\sim 0.85\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{cm}}^{-2}$ for $p_{\mathrm{Ne}}=700\text{Torr}$ and an excitation frequency of $5\mathrm{kHz}$ , and exhibit maximum radiative efficiency for a Ne pressure of $p_{\mathrm{Ne}}\cong 700\text{Torr}$ and an excitation frequency of $10–15\mathrm{kHz}$ . All arrays examined $(10\times 10\to 200\times 200)$ are characterized by pixel-to-pixel emission intensities constant over the entire array to within $\pm 10\%$ , and no barriers to the successful operation of much larger arrays are apparent.