Breakdown Phenomena in Water Vapor Microdischarges |
| M. Radmilović-Radjenović, B. Radjenović and M. Savić
Institute of Physics, Pregrevica 118, 11080 Belgrade, Serbia |
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| The gas breakdown at the large gap sizes is reasonably well understood. However, the breakdown phenomenon in microgaps is still not sufficiently explored. The high electric fields realized in small gaps combined with the lowering of the potential barrier, seen by the electrons in the cathode as ion approaches lead to ion-enhanced field emission leading to deviations from the standard Paschen law. In this paper, semi-empirical expressions for the breakdown voltage based on the fitting of numerical solutions of the DC breakdown criteria in microdsicharges have been derived. In the standard breakdown criteria the secondary emission coefficient that incorporates the enhancement of the secondary electron emission has been included. The obtained expressions can be used for determination the pressure and the gap dependence of the breakdown field strength in the water vapor, separately. |
| DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.117.752 PACS numbers: 52.50.Qt, 52.65.Rr, 52.80.Pi |