Atmospheric Direct Write Material Deposition System
Plasma Sparker Feasibility Demostration

Traditional Low Pressure Glow Discharge Voltage/Current Relationship

 Corona Atmospheric-Plasma Voltage/Current Relationship
Notice when comparing the two plasmas the four regions of operation.  Also not the range of voltage required to reach break down.  In the Corona Plasma, region (1)'s voltage barrier is reduced which allows no voltage roll-off that are seen in low pressure glow discharges.  The entry into region (2) from region (1) will be transistor-ish saturation.  Region (2) appears to be  adequately large enough for glow discharge tuning before reaching region (3).  Literature suggest that 5x10-4 Amps is the limit to push a corona atomopheric-plasma before the plasma arcs  The operation range of a corona plasma is 2-5 kV and 10-10-10-5 Amps..
(1)  The "dark" Townsend discharge prior to spark ignition
(2) "Normal Glow" where voltage is constant or decreases slightly with current
(3) "Abnormal Glow" Where voltage increases with current
(4) "Arc discharge" where the plasma becomes highly conductive.

This is a typical Corona Set Up.

Wire Head ~5 microns2
Plasma Voltages 2-5 kV
Plasma Current 10-10-10-5 Amps
Drift Spread ~500 microns2
Substrate/Corona Separation 4-6 mm