Microcavity plasma UV lamps: Efficient VUV, UV-C and UV-B generation with flat form factor

Flat lamps have been developed which comprise large arrays of microcavity plasmas, and they are capable of efficiently generating UV light in the range of VUV to UV-B. UV light is desirable for a number of chemical processes and disinfection methods and lamps are available commercially, but conventional UV light sources suffer from several drawbacks, including undesirable form factors and environmental concerns regarding the use of mercury. Microplasmas are non-equilibrium, low temperature plasma sources which have high power loading (several hundred kW/cm3), thereby enabling them to efficiently form UV-generating excimer molecules. Additionally, they contain no toxic substances such as mercury1.