Common plasmas

Plasmas are by far the most common phase of matter in the universe, both by mass and by volume.^[4] All the stars are made of plasma, and even the space between the stars is filled with a plasma, albeit a very sparse one. In our solar system, the planet Jupiter accounts for most of the non-plasma, only about 0.1% of the mass and 10⁻¹⁵% of the volume within the orbit of Pluto. Very small grains within a gaseous plasma will also pick up a net negative charge, so that they in turn may act like a very heavy negative ion component of the plasma (see dusty plasmas).

Common forms of plasma include

Artificially produced plasmas Those found in plasma displays, including TVs Inside fluorescent lamps (low energy lighting), neon signs[5] Rocket exhaust and ion thrusters The area in front of a spacecraft's heat shield during reentry into the atmosphere Inside a corona discharge ozone generator Fusion energy research The electric arc in an arc lamp, an arc welder or plasma torch Plasma ball (sometimes called a plasma sphere or plasma globe) Arcs produced by Tesla coils (resonant air core transformer or disruptor coil that produces arcs similar to lightning but with alternating current rather than static electricity) Plasmas used in semiconductor device fabrication including: Reactive Ion Etching, Sputtering, and Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition Laser-produced plasmas (LPP), found when high power lasers interact with materials. Inductively Coupled Plasmas (ICP), formed typically in argon gas for Optical Emission Spectroscopy or Mass Spectroscopy Magnetically Induced Plasmas (MIP), typically produced using microwaves as a resonant coupling method