Premium
A Particle‐in‐Cell Simulation of the Breakdown Mechanism in Microdischarges with an Improved Secondary Emission Model
Author(s) -
RadmilovićRadjenović M.,
Radjenović B.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
contributions to plasma physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.531
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1521-3986
pISSN - 0863-1042
DOI - 10.1002/ctpp.200710023
Subject(s) - secondary emission , electric field , monte carlo method , breakdown voltage , electron , yield (engineering) , secondary electrons , atomic physics , voltage , electrode , particle (ecology) , materials science , ion , physics , particle in cell , computational physics , mechanics , nuclear physics , thermodynamics , statistics , oceanography , mathematics , quantum mechanics , geology
Abstract 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)