Field emission microplasma actuation for microchannel flows

Tholeti, Siva Sashank; Shivkumar, Gayathri; Alexeenko, Alina

doi:10.1088/0022-3727/49/21/215203

Cited by 14 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…3. We more clearly demonstrate this by calculating V with (6), (7), and (9) for p > p c : Figure 10 shows that the agreement between (6) and 7improves for p > p c while (6) and (9) increasingly disagree. Specifically, the agreement between (6) and 7decreases as ad increases, and then increases past the minimum breakdown voltage [for which ad % Oð10Þ], when ad begins to decrease again.…”

Section: Transition To the Classical Paschen Lawmentioning

confidence: 75%

“…The secondary vertical axis shows that ad reaches its peak at p % p c and quickly decreases below one for p > p c : It is important to note that the largest pressure considered here is nonphysical ($1000 atm), but we extend up to this value to demonstrate the effectiveness of the ad analytic solutions and the matched asymptotic behavior. The matched asymptotic behavior is demonstrated by the agreement of the analytic solutions with the numerical solution in their appropriate regimes [i.e., (7) agreeing with (6) when ad ( 1 and (9) agreeing with (6) when ad ) 1] and then with each other in the small regime where ad % 1:…”

Section: Transition To the Classical Paschen Lawmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…and K 2 ¼ 1 Â 10 5 : We chose the roots of the quadratic equations for (7) and (9) such that V > 0: Appendix A provides detailed derivations of (7) through (10).…”

Section: Gasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once we have this solution for comparison, we can solve for p c by setting dV =dp ¼ 0; (13) and using (7) for V . This derivative allows us to numerically solve for p c predicted by the analytic equation for V given in (7). Next, using relevant series expansions as shown in detail in Appendix B, we derive an analytic equation for p c using (7) for V as…”

Section: B Derivation Of the Minimum Breakdown Voltagementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The trend of decreasing electronic device dimensions requires more robust methods for accurately predicting the breakdown voltage, V b . Correctly predicting V b for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), such as pressure sensors, 1,2 ensures that unwanted discharges will not destroy sensitive devices, while emerging research areas, such as microplasmas [3][4][5] and electric micropropulsion systems, 6,7 require accurate V b predictions for optimal system design.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A universal theory for gas breakdown from microscale to the classical Paschen law

Loveless

Garner

2017

Physics of Plasmas

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While well established for larger gaps, Paschen's law (PL) fails to accurately predict breakdown for microscale gaps, where field emission becomes important. This deviation from PL is characterized by the absence of a minimum breakdown voltage as a function of the product of pressure and gap distance, which has been demonstrated analytically for microscale and smaller gaps with no secondary emission at atmospheric pressure [A. M. Loveless and A. L. Garner, IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 45, 574-583 (2017)]. We extend these previous results by deriving analytic expressions that incorporate the nonzero secondary emission coefficient, c SE , that are valid for gap distances larger than those at which quantum effects become important ($100 nm) while remaining below those at which streamers arise. We demonstrate the validity of this model by benchmarking to particle-in-cell simulations with c SE ¼ 0 and comparing numerical results to an experiment with argon, while additionally predicting a minimum voltage that was masked by fixing the gap pressure in previous analyses. Incorporating c SE demonstrates the smooth transition from field emission dominated breakdown to the classical PL once the combination of electric field, pressure, and gap distance satisfies the conventional criterion for the Townsend avalanche; however, such a condition generally requires supra-atmospheric pressures for breakdown at the microscale. Therefore, this study provides a single universal breakdown theory for any gas at any pressure dominated by field emission or Townsend avalanche to guide engineers in avoiding breakdown when designing microscale and larger devices, or inducing breakdown for generating microplasmas.

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Section: Transition To the Classical Paschen Lawmentioning

confidence: 75%

Section: Transition To the Classical Paschen Lawmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…and K 2 ¼ 1 Â 10 5 : We chose the roots of the quadratic equations for (7) and (9) such that V > 0: Appendix A provides detailed derivations of (7) through (10).…”

Section: Gasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Derivation Of the Minimum Breakdown Voltagementioning

confidence: 99%