Study on the Key Influencing Factors in Atmospheric Pressure Plasma Processing of Fused Silica

In order to get ultra-smooth fused silica surface without subsurface damage efficiently, the atmospheric pressure plasma processing （APPP） method has been developed. It is based on chemical reaction between active radicals excited by plasma and workpiece surface atoms, so the subsurface damage caused by contact stress can be avoided and atomic-level precision can be ensured. In this paper, based on the spectral quantitative analysis theory, the influence laws on material removal rate by the key factors of APPP including the flow rate of reaction gases, the input power, the processing distance and time are discussed. In addition, the results that APPP can remove the damaged surface layer and do not introduce secondary damage are proved via the nanoindentation technology＇.