Mutual interaction among multiple surface barrier discharges

This study investigates how the electrode width of a surface barrier discharge (SBD) array affects the deposited power, the induced flow and the spatial distribution of reactive species delivered to a downstream sample. It is shown that decreasing electrode width increases the power density at a fixed operating voltage, causing an intensification of the oscillatory flow by up to 200%, resulting from the overlap of localized flows at every discharge gap. This intensification introduces ripples in the flux of species to a downstream surface when the distance between the SBD array and the treated surface is reduced. A transition between a convection‐driven delivery and diffusion‐driven delivery was identified and quantified for different electrode widths and distances between SBDs and the treated surface. The work shows that the ripples in the delivered flux were associated with convection‐driven delivery. Surface barrier discharges used in practical applications generally consist of a large number of adjacent discharge gaps. To maximize uniformity it is desired to minimize the distance between discharge gaps. This study investigates emergent effects when the distance between the gaps becomes very small in comparison to their width. It is reported that an oscillatory flow is induced creating a ripple in the flux of reactive species to a downstream sample.