Sterilization of Medical Equipment Using Oxygen Radicals Produced by Water Vapor RF Plasma

A safe and clean method of sterilizing medical equipment is proposed, which uses radicals produced by RF plasma. The plasma source gas for the sterilization is water vapor, which produces hydroxyl radicals upon the RF discharge. The inactivation of bacillus on medical equipment by water vapor plasma at a temperature below 55degC gives a decimal reduction value of 26 min.