THE BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE CURVES IN DIRECT CURRENT MICRODISCHARGES IN MOLECULAR GASES

This paper contains experimental results of the direct current breakdown voltage curves in nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and dry air discharges formed between parallel-plane electrodes placed at distances ranging from 2.5 mu m to 100 mu m. Experimental results presented here clearly show that electrical breakdown across micron size gap may occur at voltages below the minimum predicted by the conventional scaling law. The observed breakdown voltage reduction maybe attributed to the long path breakdown. Experimental results satisfactorily agree with the available simulation results and can be useful for microelectronic devices, in localized diagnostics of ICs during their manufacture, in choosing appropriate conditions for electromechanical micro systems which may eventually lead to nano-machining in localized treatment of materials and assembly of nano-structures and in micro- and nano-biological processing and diagnostics.