Abstract
Plasma-based ion implantation (PBII) with negative voltage pulses to the test specimen has been applied to the sterilization process as a technique suitable for three-dimensional work pieces. Pulsed high negative voltage (5 μs pulse width, 300 pulses/s, -800 V to -15 kV) was applied to the electrode in this process at a gas pressure of 2.4 Pa of N2. We found that the PBII process, in which (N2 gas self-ignitted plasma generated by only pulsed voltages is used) reduces the numbers of active Bacillus pumilus cell. The number of bacteria survivors was reduced by 10-5 x with 5 min exposure. As the ion energy is one of the important processing parameters on sterilization of the surface, the ion energy is discussed from the high resolution RBS depth profile.
