SUB 3-micron gap microplasma fet with 50 V turn-on voltage

Pai, Pradeep; Tabib-Azar, Massood

doi:10.1109/memsys.2014.6765601

Cited by 14 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…2 below pd~2 Torr.cm. Recent experiments, however, have shown that the breakdown voltage decreases monotonously for small gaps [19][20][21][22][23][24] that are less than 10 μm in 1 Atmosphere in air. The cause of this behavior is attributed to ion-enhanced field emission that occurs as the positive ions approach the negative electrode (cathode).…”

Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 96%

“…At small gaps, the yield of the ion fieldassisted electron emission far exceeds the electron emission from collisions with neutrals. Thus, the fieldassisted emission becomes the primary ionization mechanism at small gap [23,24]. Tirumala and Go [22] used an approach that modified the existing Paschen's law to accommodate the field-emission.…”

Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 and, as expected, it becomes zero for zero gap distance. representation of electron emission at cathode due to electric potential of an approaching ion [24].…”

Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we discuss MPDs with internal current/voltage control [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. We note that surface effects are dominant in scaled MPDs [38].…”

Section: Three-terminal Mpdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As the gap distance is reduced below 10 μm at 1 atmosphere in nitrogen, the Paschen curve predicts very large breakdown voltages that is experimentally shown not to be accurate. The ion-assisted field emission takes over in this regime and lowers the breakdown voltage considerably [19][20][21][22][23][24]. If it wasn't for the ionassisted emission process, it would have been impossible to realize MPDs with single digit breakdown voltages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplasma Field Effect Transistors

Tabib-Azar¹,

Pai²

2017

Preprint

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Micro plasma devices (MPD) with power gains are of interest in applications involving operations in the presence of ionizing radiations, in propulsion, in control, amplification of high power electromagnetic waves, and in metamaterials for energy management. Here we review and discuss MPDs with an emphasis on new architectures that have evolved during the past 7 years. Devices with programmable impact ionization rates and programmable boundaries are developed to control the plasma ignition voltage and current to achieve power gain. Plasma devices with 1-10 μm gaps are shown to operate in the sub-Paschen regime in atmospheric pressures where ion-assisted field emission results in a breakdown voltage that linearly depends on the gap distance in contrast to the exponential dependence dictated by the Paschen curve. Small gap devices offer higher operation frequencies at low operation voltages with applications in metamaterial skins for energy management and in harsh environment inside nuclear reactors and in space. In addition to analog plasma devices, logic gates, digital circuits, and distributed amplifiers are also discussed.Index Terms-Plasma devices; atmospheric-pressure plasmas; glow discharge devices; power amplifiers; terahertz switches I. INTRODUCTIONPlasmas are extensively studied during the past century [1]. Their applications in large-scale devices for fusion, and small-scale devices in switches are well accomplished and developed. Here, we concentrate on cold plasmas that can be easily generated in a small (< 1 mm 3 ) volume with moderate electrical powers of less than 5 Watts and discuss their applications in devices similar to diodes, MOSFETs and digital and analog three-terminal devices with power gains for amplification of signals. Except in distributed plasma devices and in magnetic field sensors, we only consider non-magnetized plasmas. For the most part, we assume that the plasma is quasi-neutral and it is generated at atmospheric pressures that range from 0.6 to 1.1 atmosphere.Microplasma devices have received a renewed attention in the past 5-7 years owing to their potential applications in harsh environment. Important features that make plasma devices attractive are: a) their very large off-to-on resistance ratios (10 10 Ω/0.1 Ω), b) the ability to conduct very large currents, c) the ability to operate at very high temperatures (can be as high as 1000 o C), d) improved operation in the presence of ionizing radiation, e) the ability to traverse shortest "electrical" distance between their anode and cathode (this property can be used to solve "shortest" path problems) [2], and f) the ability to form programmable electrically conducting paths making them suitable for reconfigurable antennas and circuits [3]. MPDs are also being explored in developing chip-scale electron beam accelerators and a 100 GeV electron accelerators has already been demonstrated [4].Microplasma devices are currently used in displays [5], light sources [6], ionization devices for chemical analysis [7], material processing [...

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Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3 and, as expected, it becomes zero for zero gap distance. representation of electron emission at cathode due to electric potential of an approaching ion [24].…”

Section: Fig 2: Paschen Curves For 5 Different Gases Of Importance Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here we discuss MPDs with internal current/voltage control [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]. We note that surface effects are dominant in scaled MPDs [38].…”

Section: Three-terminal Mpdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplasma Field Effect Transistors

Tabib-Azar¹,

Pai²

2017

Preprint

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A Comparison of Continuum and Kinetic Simulations of Moderate pd Microplasmas Integrated With High Secondary Yield Cathodes

Verma

Alamatsaz

Venkattraman

2016

Plasma Processes & Polymers

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The computational techniques commonly used for low‐temperature plasma simulations are compared in the context of modeling microplasmas driven by cathodes with high secondary electron emission coefficient. Simulations of 100 µm argon microplasmas operating at pressures of 100 Torr and secondary electron emission coefficient of 0.1 are performed using particle‐in‐cell with Monte Carlo collisions (PIC‐MCC), and fluid model using the full‐momentum equations for both electrons and ions. Results obtained for plasma density, potential, electric field, and electron temperature using continuum simulations are compared with the PIC‐MCC simulations as benchmark. The comparison demonstrates significant discrepancies and a need to calibrate continuum simulation parameters based on kinetic simulations.

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Theory and analysis of operating modes in microplasmas assisted by field emitting cathodes

Venkattraman

2015

Physics of Plasmas

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Motivated by the recent interest in the development of novel diamond-based cathodes, we study microplasmas assisted by field emitting cathodes with large field enhancement factors using a simplified model and comparisons with particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) simulations and experiments. The model used to determine current-voltage characteristics assumes a linearly varying electric field in the sheath and predicts transition from an abnormal glow to arc mode at moderate current densities in a 1 mm argon gap. The influence of an external circuit is also considered to show the dependence of current as a function of the applied voltage, including potential drop across external resistors. PIC-MCC simulations confirm the validity of the model and also show the significant non-equilibrium nature of these low-temperature microplasmas with electron temperatures $1 eV and ion temperatures $0:07 eV in the quasi-neutral region. The model is also used to explain experimental data reported for a 1 mm argon gap at a pressure of 2 Torr using three different diamond-based cathodes with superior field emitting properties. The comparison shows that operating conditions in the experiments may not result in significant field emission and the differences observed in current-voltage characteristics can be attributed to small differences in the secondary electron emission coefficient of the three cathodes. However, the model and simulations clearly indicate that field emission using novel cathodes with high field enhancement factors can be used to enhance microplasmas by significantly decreasing the power requirements to achieve a given plasma number density even in gaps at which field emission is traditionally not considered to be a dominant mechanism. V C 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.

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SUB 3-micron gap microplasma fet with 50 V turn-on voltage

Cited by 14 publications

References 9 publications

Microplasma Field Effect Transistors

Microplasma Field Effect Transistors

A Comparison of Continuum and Kinetic Simulations of Moderate pd Microplasmas Integrated With High Secondary Yield Cathodes

Theory and analysis of operating modes in microplasmas assisted by field emitting cathodes

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