Finding the Current for a Plasma Creation in Helium

[Smithy16]

Hi all.

I am currently trying to determine the specifications of equipment I need to create a plasma. I am looking to generate a plasma in chamber of Helium at a pressure of about 0.6 Torr. My electrodes are around 17cm apart (giving me a pd of 10 Torr cm). By consulting Paschen curves, I see I need a power supply capable of producing a voltage of 200V. I intend to use continuous DC - not pulsed DC.

However, I cannot seem to be able to find a means of calculating the current which needs to be delivered. Can anyone suggest a means of finding this out?

Thank you in advance for your time.



Smithy

 

[elegysix]

I don't know how to figure out what current you need.

However, I can tell you with experience how to create plasma cheaply.
If you pump a noble gas into a microwave, you can create as much plasma as you want.
This can be rather dangerous though.

Here's a paper on the topic if you want more information. http://pe.org.pl/articles/2012/8/12.pdf