The method of forming the protective layer 64 on the low-voltage electrode 56 can be any method, and includes the method of thermal spraying to apply materials that will become the protective layer 64. Forming the protective layer 64 by thermal spraying has an advantage in that it can be fabricated easily. The thickness of the protective layer 64 can be set appropriately from the viewpoint of contamination prevention; however, 100 μm or less can be adopted, for example.

In the plasma generator 60 according to the third embodiment, since the protective layer 64 is provided near the area where plasma is generated, that is, in the vicinity of the blowout outlet 30, and on the low-voltage electrode 56, the evaporation and diffusion of the material constituting the low-voltage electrode 56 can be suppressed, thereby preventing the object to be irradiated from being contaminated.

The plasma generator 60 according to the third embodiment has been described on the above.

Hereinafter, a plasma generator 70 according to the fourth embodiment is described. The plasma generator 70 of the fourth embodiment differs from the plasma generator 10 according to the first embodiment in that an auxiliary starting member is disposed in the vicinity of the blowout outlet and on the second surface of the dielectric substrate, and is common in other points. Accordingly, the different points will be mainly described, and the common points will be omitted or simplified in the following. In addition, the same symbol is assigned to the configuration common to the plasma generator 10 according to the first embodiment.