Material removal function of the capacitive coupled hollow cathode plasma source for plasma polishing

A novel plasma polishing process has been developed. In the process, highly stable SF6 and Ar/O2 plasmas were generated by using capacitive coupled hollow cathode (CCHC) RF discharge method. The influences of the plasma source operational parameters such as gas flow rate, gas flow rate ratio of the mixed gases, pressure and discharge power on the material removal function of the plasma polishing process were investigated. Material used in the polishing process was fused silica, which was pre-polished to an initial surface roughness of about 1.4 nm rms.