Claims
- 1. An apparatus for treating paper web materials with a plasma, said apparatus comprising:
(a) a dark space generated by a treatment electrode in a treatment zone; (b) a counter electrode, said treatment electrode having a surface area in said treatment zone which is not greater than a surface area of said counter electrode; and (c) a power supply for driving either said treatment electrode or said counter electrode with an oscillating high voltage at a frequency less than about 2 MHz and greater than 1/tc where tc is the charging time of a web surface exposed to a rms ion current in the plasma.
- 2. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said treatment electrode is a stationary electrode.
- 3. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said treatment electrode is a rotatable electrode.
- 4. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said counter electrode also serves to confine the plasma and define the treatment zone.
- 5. An apparatus as recited in claim 2 wherein:
said counter electrode also serves to confine the plasma and define the treatment zone.
- 6. An apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein:
said counter electrode also serves to confine the plasma and define the treatment zone.
- 7. An apparatus as recited in claim 3 wherein:
said treatment electrode includes a contact surface, the web being in contact with said contact surface in said treatment zone.
- 8. An apparatus as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said treatment electrode includes a contact surface, the web being in contact with said contact surface in said treatment zone.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This is a divisional application of U.S. application, Ser. No. 09/574,772, filed May 19, 2000 by Jeremy M. Grace, et al., and entitled, “HIGH EFFICIENCY PLASMA TREATMENT OF PAPER.
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09574772 |
May 2000 |
US |
Child |
10246864 |
Sep 2002 |
US |