The present communication shows the possibility of observing micro-discharges under cathodic polarization during Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) at high frequency. Cathodic micro-discharges can ignite beyond a threshold frequency found close to 2 kHz. The presence (resp. absence) of an Electrical Double Layer (EDL) was put forward to explain how the applied voltage can be screened, which therefore prevents (resp. promotes) the ignition of a discharge. Interestingly, in the conditions of the present study, the EDL requires between 175 and 260 µs to form. This situates the expected threshold frequency between 1.92 and 2.86 kHz, which is in good agreement with the value obtained experimentally.Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) is at a pivotal moment of its development. If this process has undeniable assets for surface treatments of light alloys (high growth rate, high ultimate coating thickness, ecofriendliness, wear and corrosion resistance, etc.), the high energy consumption and the lack of understanding of the fundamental processes underlying the breakdown and the oxidation mechanisms still limit a larger scale development.Improving the energetic efficiency of PEO is a major stake and several strategies can then be followed: dual treatments[1], addition of nanoparticles [2,3], electrolyte composition [4,5] and electric regimes [5][6][7][8]. Here, we focus on the influence of the electric regime as it has a direct and strong influence on both the space and time properties of micro-discharges (MD), which affect the coating growth. Interestingly, the best properties and the highest growth rates of coatings are obtained while using bipolar current waveform [5,9] even though MDs are only observed during the anodic (i.e. positive) half-period [10][11][12] in these conditions.To explain this observation, one should keep in mind that the growth of PEO coatings relies on a balance between the constructive effect of MDs (oxidation and coating growth) and their destructive effect (large craters and porosities). Several studies conducted either by high speed video imaging [5,6,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] or by direct electrical measurements [10,19] have investigated this balance. They made it possible to correlate space and time parameters of MDs (number, life-time, size) and the properties of as-grown coatings (thickness, porosity). In short, large and long-lived discharges promote the growth of high temperature phases but create large porosities (several tens of µm), high roughness at limited growth rates (strong destructive effect of MDs). On the other hand, too small and short-lived MDs will create more homogeneous coating but with lower amount of high-temperature phases and also at limited growth rates (weak constructive effect).Nevertheless, all these studies support the same conclusion: adjusting the cathodic half period probably opens up the possibility to tune the behaviour of anodic MDs. Then, combining high-growth rates, low levels of large-scale porosity (bigger than 10 µm) and a significant proportio...