Welcome to UCLA's

Low Temperature Plasma Technology Laboratory!

    Plasma processing is used to manufacture many products that we depend on, directly or indirectly, every day, such as plastic bags, automobile bumpers, airplane turbine blades, artificial joints, and, most importantly, semiconductor circuits.  About half the steps in making a computer chip involve using a plasma, and plasma machines account for most of the cost of semiconductor "fabs".  The partially ionized plasmas used in industry have been considered  "dirty science" or a "black art" because they were developed empirically, without an understanding of the underlying physics.  The LTPTL is devoted to developing the science of partially ionized plasmas into an academically advanced discipline, like the science of high-temperature plasmas developed for controlled fusion.  New devices and techniques of practical utility have resulted from these studies.

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