Atmospheric pressure plasmas: A review

This article attempts to give an overview of atmospheric plasma sources and their applications. The aim is to introduce, in a first part, the main scientific background concerning plasmas as well as the different atmospheric plasma sources (description, working principle). The second part focuses on the various applications of the atmospheric plasma technologies, mainly in the field of surface treatments. Thus this paper is meant for a broad audience: non-plasma-specialized readers will find basic information for an introduction to plasmas whereas plasma spectroscopists who are familiar with analytical plasmas may be interested in the synthesis of the different applications of the atmospheric pressure plasma sources. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.