Root Cause and Failure Analysis

Hartzell, Allyson L.; Silva, Mark G. da; Shea, Herbert

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-6018-4_5

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

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“…Another community is micro-electronics, including microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and micro-discharge devices that make electrode size and/or gaps at micro-scale dimensions. Since these systems often require high voltages for actuation (for example, in electrostatic switches in emerging MEMS [3] or usually explored in environments of high voltage, the primary concern is to prevent breakdown and sparking so that the devices can operate safely [4]. This depends strongly on the understanding of breakdown in the electrode's size and gap of micro-scale.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discharge characteristics of a needle-to-plate electrode at a micro-scale gap

Wang¹,

Ji²,

Zhang³

2018

Plasma Sci. Technol.

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To understand the discharge characteristics under a gap of micrometers, the breakdown voltage and current-voltage curve are measured experimentally in a needle-to-plate electrode at a microscale gap of 3-50 μm in air. The effect of the needle radius and the gas pressure on the discharge characteristics are tested. The results show that when the gap is larger than 10 μm, the relation between the breakdown voltage and the gap looks like the Paschen curve; while below 10 μm, the breakdown voltage is nearly constant in the range of the tested gap. However, at the same gap distance, the breakdown voltage is still affected by the pressure and shows a trend similar to Paschen's law. The current-voltage characteristic in all the gaps is similar and follows the trend of a typical Townsend-to-glow discharge. A simple model is used to explain the non-normality of breakdown in the micro-gaps. The Townsend mechanism is suggested to control the breakdown process in this configuration before the gap reduces much smaller in air.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%