Electrical generators driving microhollow and dielectric barrier discharges applied for analytical chemistry.

Scaling down the size of plasma discharges would reduce the amount of gases, liquids, and consumables required, which in turn would decrease the operating costs. Nevertheless, the application of a specialized plasma generator for microhollow cathode discharges (MHCD) and dielectric barrier discharges are driven with commercially available power sources. Those generators are bulky and expensive and their overall efficiency is poor. This work develops and explains several circuit topologies and design hints to excite MHCD and dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasmas with respect to its system with as low as possible input power in a very efficient way. Benefits in sensitivity and life expectancy are shown. The generator for the MHCD needs voltages up to 7 V and consumes up to 5 W. The DBD generator has an input power of 3 W and produces a fast rising output pulse up to 9 kV, which has a time duration of 2 micros. These low-power circuits offer the operation with batteries.