The invention concerns microcavity
plasma devices and arrays with thin foil
metal electrodes protected by
metal oxide dielectric. Devices of the invention are amenable to
mass production techniques, and may, for example, be fabricated by
roll to roll processing. Exemplary devices of the invention are flexible. Embodiments of the invention provide for large arrays of microcavity
plasma devices that can be made inexpensively. The structure of preferred embodiment microcavity
plasma devices of the invention is based upon thin foils of
metal that are available or can be produced in arbitrary lengths, such as on rolls. In a device of the invention, a pattern of microcavities is produced in a
metal foil.
Oxide is subsequently grown on the foil and within the microcavities (where plasma is to be produced) to protect the microcavity and electrically isolate the foil. A second
metal foil is also encapsulated with
oxide and is bonded to the first encapsulated foil. For preferred embodiment microcavity plasma device arrays of the invention, no particular alignment is necessary during bonding of the two encapsulated foils. A
thin glass layer or vacuum packaging, for example, is able to seal the
discharge medium into the array.