A modified Paschen law for the initiation of a dc glow discharge in inert gases

Breakdown of inert gases in a homogeneous dc electric field is studied experimentally and theoretically at various distances L between the electrodes and radii R of the discharge tubes. It is shown that, for arbitrary geometric dimensions of the discharge chamber and cathode materials, the ratio of the breakdown electric field strength to the gas pressure holds constant at the breakdown curve minimum. A modified Paschen law is obtained, according to which the breakdown voltage is a function of both the product of the gas pressure by the distance L and the ratio L/R.     

Application of Mn nano-flower sculptured thin films produced on interdigitated pattern as cathode and anode electrodes in field ionization gas sensor

The photolitography method was used for producing interdigitated configurations for cathode and anode electrodes of a field ionization gas sensor in which Mn helical nano-flowers with 3-fold symmetry were deposited using oblique angle deposition together with rotation of the substrate about its surface normal, with each rotation divided into six sections. These sections were alternately rotated at high and low speeds. Three different distances were chosen in the design between anode and cathode electrodes, namely 40, 100 and 200 μm. Physical structure and morphology of electrodes were studied by field emission scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope analyses.The breakdown voltage of the system was studied for nitrogen, oxygen, argon, air and carbon mono-oxide gases. Investigations with these gases at different distances between anode and cathode and different gas pressures confirmed Paschen's Law. Results showed that at low pressures, decreasing the gap between electrodes increases the breakdown voltage. With fewer gas molecules between the electrodes the number of interactions between particles is reduced and higher energies are required for ionization of gas molecules. At high pressures, the breakdown voltage is decreased because of an increased number of molecular interactions. The sensor demonstrated good selectivity between the different gases and selectivity was enhanced with increasing gas pressure. A direct relationship was found at low pressures (e.g., 0.1 mbar) between the breakdown voltage and the gas ionization energy while at high pressures (e.g., 1000 mbar) this relationship was reversed.     

Die Zündspannung im Bereich des Nahdurchschlages von reinem Quecksilberdampf

The breakdown voltage characteristic below the Paschen minimum of a mercury vapour discharge is measured and than calculated under considerations of the elementary processes. It is shown that the secondary electron emission of the cathode by impact of fast neutral atomes becomes very important. Further it can be showed that the S-form of the breakdown voltage characteristic mentioned in the literature does not appear, and that this apparently refers to condensed mercury on the cathode surface.     

Breakdown magnetic field in an inductively coupled plasma

The Paschen curve shows that the breakdown voltage over a gap is a non-linear function of the product of the gas pressure and the gap distance for plasmas which are generated inside an electric field driven source. The Paschen breakdown relationship does not depend on the applied frequency and covers secondary emission at the electrodes of the discharge. Adapting the Paschen curve, a breakdown curve for a time-dependent magnetic field, typical for inductively coupled plasmas which sources are without electrodes, is examined here. It is shown that in this case the magnetic field breakdown curve does depend on the applied frequency.     

A Particle‐in‐Cell Simulation of the Breakdown Mechanism in Microdischarges with an Improved Secondary Emission Model

In this paper, the failure of the breakdown voltage from the Paschen's law at extremely small electrode separations is studied. The electrical breakdown in microgaps occurs at the voltages far below the Paschen curve minimum breakdown limit and the modified Paschen curve should be used. Offered explanation for the departure from the Paschen's law at small gap spacings is based on the increasing of the yield of the secondary electrons. The high electric fields existing in small gaps may enhance the secondary electron yield and this would lead to a lowering of the breakdown voltage and to the departure from the Paschen's law. Particlein‐cell/Monte‐Carlo (PIC/MCC) simulations with a new secondary emission model have been performed to estimate the importance of this mechanism in the discharge breakdown. Obtained simulation results suggest that deviations from the Paschen curve across the micron and submicorn gap spacing can be attributed to the ion‐enhanced field emissions. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Paschen Curve and Film Growth in Low Pressure Capacitively Coupled Magnetron Plasma Polymerization

The deposition of dielectric nanofilms by magnetron AF plasma polymerization between two planar electrodes shows a number of advantages over the standard RF method without magnetron enhancement. Because it is powered at 15 kHz, it works as a DC discharge swapping side every half cycle. We investigated here the effect of the magnetron on the breakdown voltage in our system taking Paschen curves with a DC power source. Subsequently, we related the Paschen curves with the deposition rate of the coating, showing that the Paschen minimum corresponds to the maximum growth rate as far as the pressure and the inter‐electrode distance are concerned. This result can be used to quickly determine the maximum growth rate in a given configuration via the measurement of a Paschen curve (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Breakdown in the transverse magnetic field

The breakdown between coaxial cylindrical electrodes in the homogeneous axial magnetic field in the pressure range around the Paschen minimum is studied. On the right of this minimum the breakdown voltage is not practically influenced by a weak magnetic field. On the left of this minimum the breakdown U-B curves can be divided into two branches: the upper ones can be approximated by the magnetron cut-off parabola, the lower ones correspond qualitatively in some cases to the second solution of the equation for breakdown in the inhomogeneous electric field corrected with respect to the losses of electrons caused by recapturing on the cathode.     

Investigation of the electrical breakdown mechanism in neon at 13.3 mbar pressure using the time delay method

The results of the investigation of electrical breakdown in neon filled diode at 13.3 mbar pressure in function of distances between electrodes (0.1 < d < 20 mm), using electrical breakdown time delay method, are presented in this paper. The Paschen curve, as well as the electrical breakdown time delay mean values, and discharge formative time dependence of distance between electrodes are analyzed. The electrical breakdown time delay distributions and Laue diagrams, both as the functions of the distances between electrodes, were used in consideration. The shapes of the established distributions indicate the complex nature of the discharge formation mechanism. The results also indicate that on the right hand side of the Paschen curve (pd > 15 mbar · cm) the transition regime between Townsend and streamer mechanism of electrical breakdown is dominant.     

Inter‐Electrode Distance and Breakdown Voltage in Low Pressure Argon Discharges

This work deals with the Paschen law in electrical breakdown of gases at pd values around the Paschen minimum. From the Townsend model, it is possible to deduce theoretical forms of the coefficients in Paschen's law, of which our calculated values are in the range of the tabulated values from the literature. These formulae show that the breakdown voltage must be influenced by the inter‐electrode distance, while the product pd remains a key parameter. This is confirmed by the Paschen curves measured in an argon discharge for inter‐electrode distances varying from 2 to 9 cm (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

电极表面光滑程度对水介质高电压击穿的影响

 采用水介质同轴实验装置,改变电极表面的光滑程度,在μs级充电时进行水介质击穿实验,并对实验结果进行了分析和解释。结果表明：抛光电极表面可有效提高水介质耐高电压击穿能力;表面粗糙度为0.4～0.8 μm的抛光电极表面的击穿场强比表面粗糙度为1.6～3.2 μm的粗糙抛光电极表面,更符合Martin公式。电极表面光滑程度的改善,使阴极场致发射电流减弱进而击穿延迟时间变长,气泡也更难以附着在光滑的电极表面,从而可以提高水介质耐高电压击穿能力。     

Monte Carlo method for finding the ionization and secondary emission coefficients and <Emphasis Type="Italic">I–V</Emphasis> characteristic of a Townsend discharge in hydrogen

Secondary cathode emission coefficients for hydrogen are determined from experimental data on breakdown by calculating the number of ionization events in gaps using the Monte Carlo method. Other parameters being calculated are the ionization rate, Townsend ionization coefficients (with demonstration of their nonlocality), velocity of electron drift toward the anode, and probabilities of electron return to the cathode. The calculated and measured values are in reasonable agreement. Gaps with pd = 0.37–17.0 Torr cm are considered. It is shown that the observed negative differential resistance of the Townsend discharge can be related to a decrease in the probability of electron return to the cathode with increasing E/N only if the value of pd is near the minimum in the Paschen curve.     

High vertical breakdown strength in with low specific on‐resistance AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMTs on silicon

Off‐state and vertical breakdown characteristics of AlGaN/AlN/GaN high‐electron‐mobility transistors (HEMTs) on high‐resistivity (HR)‐Si substrate were investigated and analysed. Three‐terminal off‐state breakdown (BV_gd) was measured as a function of gate–drain spacing (L_gd). The saturation of BV_gd with L_gd is because of increased gate leakage current. HEMTs with L_gd = 6 µm exhibited a specific on‐resistance R_DS[ON] of 0.45 mΩ cm². The figure of merit (FOM = BV_gd²/R_DS[ON]) is as high as 2.0 × 10⁸ V² Ω^–1 cm^–2, the highest among the reported values for GaN HEMTs on Si substrate. A vertical breakdown of ～1000 V was observed on 1.2 µm thick buffer GaN/AlN grown on Si substrate. The occurrence of high breakdown voltage is due to the high quality of GaN/AlN buffer layers on Si substrate with reduced threading dislocations which has been confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). This indicates that the AlGaN/AlN/GaN HEMT with 1.2 µm thick GaN/AlN buffer on Si substrate is promising candidate for high‐power and high‐speed switching device applications. (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

An improved planar-gate triode with CNTs field emitters by electrophoretic deposition

An improved planar-gate triode with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) field emitters has been successfully fabricated by conventional photolithography, screen printing and electrophoretic deposition (EPD). In this structure, cathode electrodes and ITO arrays linked with gate electrodes were interdigitated and paralleled on the same plane although the gate electrodes and cathode electrodes were isolated by dielectric layer, a so-called improved planar-gate triode structure. An electrophoretic process was developed to selectively deposit CNTs field emitters onto cathode electrodes in the CNTs suspension by an applied voltage between the gate electrodes and cathode electrodes. The optical microscopy and FESEM image showed that the CNTs emitters with the uniform packing density were selectively defined onto the cathode electrodes. In addition, field emission characteristics of an improved planar-gate triode with CNTs field emitters were investigated. The experiment results indicated that the turn-on voltage of this triode structure at current density of 1 μA/cm² was approximately 55 V. The anode current and gate current came to 396 μA and 325 μA, at gate voltage and anode voltage of 100 V and 4000 V, respectively and at the anode-cathode spacing of 2000 μm. The emission image became brighter and the luminous image with dot matrix on the anode plate obviously increased with the increase of the gate voltage. Moreover, the emission current fluctuation was smaller than 5% for 11 h, which indicated that the improved planar-gate triode has a good field emission performance and long lifetime.     

Dc breakdown of low pressure gas in long tubes

The gas breakdown was experimentally investigated in dc electrical field in long discharge tubes. The measurements were performed in the tube of radius R=4 mm, whereas the inter-electrode gap values varied in the range L=2-230 mm. The conventional Paschen law was shown to hold in short discharge tubes for which L/R?1. At L/R>1 the breakdown curves Udc(p) are shifted not only to lower pressure p values but also to higher dc voltage Udc values with the gap value increasing, i.e., one must employ the modified law of gas breakdown Udc(pL,L/R). However in long tubes the breakdown curve pattern experiences qualitative changes. At L/R>20 increasing L makes the dc breakdown curves to shift to higher Udc values, their minima being observed almost at the same gas pressure value. That is, for small gaps with increasing distance between the electrodes, the breakdown curves shift to the left on the scale of the gas pressure at a constant voltage at the minimum, and for long tubes with increasing distance between the electrodes, the breakdown curves shift upward on the scale of the voltage with the same gas pressure at the minimum. Theoretical treatment reveals that for gas breakdown in a long tube the rates of ionization via electron impact and diffusion loss to the tube wall must be equal.     

Development of a two‐dimensional imaging system of X‐ray absorption fine structure

A two‐dimensional imaging system of X‐ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) has been developed at beamline BL‐4 of the Synchrotron Radiation Center of Ritsumeikan University. The system mainly consists of an ionization chamber for I₀ measurement, a sample stage, and a two‐dimensional complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor for measuring the transmitted X‐ray intensity. The X‐ray energy shift in the vertical direction, which originates from the vertical divergence of the X‐ray beam on the monochromator surface, is corrected by considering the geometrical configuration of the monochromator. This energy correction improves the energy resolution of the XAFS spectrum because each pixel in the CMOS detector has a very small vertical acceptance of ～0.5 µrad. A data analysis system has also been developed to automatically determine the energy of the absorption edge. This allows the chemical species to be mapped based on the XANES feature over a wide area of 4.8 mm (H) × 3.6 mm (V) with a resolution of 10 µm × 10 µm. The system has been applied to the chemical state mapping of the Mn species in a LiMn₂O₄ cathode. The heterogeneous distribution of the Mn oxidation state is demonstrated and is considered to relate to the slow delocalization of Li⁺‐defect sites in the spinel crystal structure. The two‐dimensional‐imaging XAFS system is expected to be a powerful tool for analyzing the spatial distributions of chemical species in many heterogeneous materials such as battery electrodes.     

Spectroscopic measurements and electrical diagnostics of microhollow cathode discharges in argon flow at atmospheric pressure

This paper is dedicated to the study of the electrical and optical characteristics of direct current microhollow cathode discharges (MHCD) in argon flow. Experiments have been carried out in order to determine the so-called Paschen’s curves in a static open MHCD. Current-voltage characteristics were obtained as a function of the pressure and hole diameter. MHCD enable stable direct current discharge operation, which could be ignited for pressures ranging from 12 to 800 Torr, in a very wide range of current densities and electrodes materials. Optical emission spectroscopy and analysis of the spectral line broadening of plasma line emissions were performed in order to measure parameters such as electron number density (2–4 × 10¹⁴ cm^-3)^{-3}), gas temperature (460–640 K), excitation temperature (~ 7000 K) and electron temperature (~ 8500 K), for current ranging from 7 to 15 mA. Lower gas temperature was measured compared to the static MHCD ones.     

Integral and temporal characteristics of soft X-rays of the PF-4 plasma focus setup

Soft X-rays of a setup with a power from 1.5 to 5 kJ, operating with argon, were measured using X-ray pinhole cameras and SPPD 11-04 detectors. Integral measurements of X-rays in energy ranges above 1.2, 1.5, 1.8, and 2.5 keV were performed using a 4-frame pinhole camera with hole sizes of ～250 µm. Simultaneously, the X-ray yield was measured with time resolution in the energy region of > 1.8 keV using a semiconductor detector. X-ray characteristics were experimentally studied at a capacitor bank voltage of 8–14 kV and argon pressures from 1.2 to 3 Torr. The size of hot points was estimated using the pinhole camera with a hole size of ～20 µm as less than 13–25 µm.     

Effect of a transverse magnetic field on the generation of electron beams in the gas-filled diode

The effect of a transverse magnetic field (0.080 and 0.016 T) on generation of an electron beam in the gas-filled diode is experimentally investigated. It is shown that, at voltage U = 25 kV across the diode and a low helium pressure (45 Torr), the transverse magnetic field influences the beam current amplitude behind a foil and its distribution over the foil cross section. At elevated pressures and under the conditions of ultrashort avalanche electron beam formation in helium, nitrogen, and air, the transverse magnetic field (0.080 and 0.016 T) has a minor effect on the amplitude and duration of the beam behind the foil. It is established that, when the voltage of the pulse generator reaches several hundreds of kilovolts, some runaway electrons (including the electrons from the discharge plasma near the cathode) are incident on the side walls of the diode.     

Microplasma array devices with coplanar electrodes operating in neon

Microplasma array devices with coplanar electrodes have been fabricated and operated in neon at pressures up to 684 Torr. The microcavity of the device is composed of a couple of electrodes instead of dielectric or single cathode. The experiment results for the line array with 12 microcavities driven by AC sinusoidal voltage show that the power loading of each microcavity reaches approximately several kW cm⁻³ and the luminance reaches 2500 cd m⁻². The discharge delay time for the devices excited by AC pulse voltage is about 1-3 μs. The lighting patterns of the devices with address electrode validate the addressing ability of the proposed devices.     

Generation of Electron Beams in the Range of Forevacuum Pressures

This paper presents the results of a study on the generation of electron beams at gas pressures ranging from 0.01 to 0.1 Torr. The fact that this range of pressures is attainable with mechanical pumps only has provoked interest in this problem. To generate an electron beam, use is made of a plasma source based on a hollow-cathode discharge in combination with a plane-parallel acceleration gap. In the given range of pressures, the peculiarities of emission and acceleration of electrons are related to the high probability of ionization of the gas in the acceleration gap and to the formation of an ion flow propagating toward the electron beam. This causes a decrease in discharge operating voltage and also an increase in plasma density in the emission region. Two types of breakdown are observed in the acceleration gap: an interelectrode breakdown and a breakdown in the plasma–electrode system. The designed electron source allows one to obtain beams of cylindrical cross section with currents of up to 1 A and energies of up to 10 keV.