TY - JOUR
T1 - Gas breakdown in the subnanosecond regime with voltages below 15 kV
AU - Krompholz, Hermann
AU - Hatfield, Lynn L.
AU - Kristiansen, Magne
AU - Hemmert, David
AU - Short, Brent
AU - Mankowski, John
AU - Brown, Mark D.J.
AU - Altgilbers, Larry L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received September 21, 2001; revised August 15, 2002. This work was supported by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. H. Krompholz, L. L. Hatfield, M. Kristiansen, D. Hemmert, and B. Short are with Pulsed Power Laboratory, Departments of Electrical Engineering and Physics, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409 USA. J. Mankowski is with Accurate Automation Corp., Chattanooga, TN 37421 USA. M. D. J. Brown and L. L. Altgilbers are with the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, Huntsville, AL 35810 USA. Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TPS.2002.805388
PY - 2002/10
Y1 - 2002/10
N2 - Gaseous breakdown in the subnanosecond regime is of interest for fast pulsed power switching, short pulse electromagnetics, and for plasma limiters to protect electronic devices from high power microwave radiation. Previous investigations of subnanosecond breakdown were mainly limited to high-pressure gases or liquids, with voltages in excess of 100 kV. In this paper, we investigate subnanosecond breakdown at applied voltages below 7.5 kV in point-plane geometries in argon, with a needle radius <0.5 μm. The coaxial setup allows current and voltage measurements with temporal resolutions down to 80 ps. Voltages of 7.5 kV (which are doubled at the open gap before breakdown) produce breakdowns with a delay of about 1 ns. With negative pulses applied to the tip and the same amplitude, breakdown is always observed during the rising part of the pulse, with breakdown delay times below 800 ps, at pressures between 102 and 104 Pa. At lower pressure, a longer delay time (8 ns at 6 Pa) is observed. We expect the breakdown mechanism to be dominated by electron field emission, but still influenced by gaseous amplification.
AB - Gaseous breakdown in the subnanosecond regime is of interest for fast pulsed power switching, short pulse electromagnetics, and for plasma limiters to protect electronic devices from high power microwave radiation. Previous investigations of subnanosecond breakdown were mainly limited to high-pressure gases or liquids, with voltages in excess of 100 kV. In this paper, we investigate subnanosecond breakdown at applied voltages below 7.5 kV in point-plane geometries in argon, with a needle radius <0.5 μm. The coaxial setup allows current and voltage measurements with temporal resolutions down to 80 ps. Voltages of 7.5 kV (which are doubled at the open gap before breakdown) produce breakdowns with a delay of about 1 ns. With negative pulses applied to the tip and the same amplitude, breakdown is always observed during the rising part of the pulse, with breakdown delay times below 800 ps, at pressures between 102 and 104 Pa. At lower pressure, a longer delay time (8 ns at 6 Pa) is observed. We expect the breakdown mechanism to be dominated by electron field emission, but still influenced by gaseous amplification.
KW - Microwave breakdown
KW - Point-plane discharge
KW - Subnanosecond gas breakdown
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036826795&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TPS.2002.805388
DO - 10.1109/TPS.2002.805388
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036826795
SN - 0093-3813
VL - 30
SP - 1916
EP - 1921
JO - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
JF - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
IS - 5 I
ER -