Formation and Expansion Phases of an Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge in a PECVD Reactor via Fast ICCD Imaging

This paper reports on the experimental study of the dynamic evolution of a dielectric barrier discharge in an atmospheric-pressure plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition reactor using a gated intensified charge coupled detector. It is observed that a diffuse atmospheric pressure glow is formed via transition from Townsend-like discharge or, alternatively, can be initiated by a filamentary discharge. The formation of the glow current spot is followed by the lateral expansion of the discharge.