Abstract
The energy available during vacuum breakdown between copper electrodes at high vacuum was limited using resistors in series with the vacuum gap and arresting diodes. Surviving features observed with SEM in postmortem samples were tentatively correlated with electrical signals captured during breakdown using a Rogowski coil and a high-voltage probe. The visual and electrical evidence is consistent with the qualitative model of vacuum breakdown by unipolar arc formation by Schwirzke [1, 2]. The evidence paints a picture of two plasmas of different composition and scale being created during vacuum breakdown: an initial plasma made of degassed material from the metal surface, ignites a plasma made up of the electrode material.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 6171864 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1217-1222 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 2012 |
Funding
Manuscript received August 26, 2011; revised December 4, 2011; accepted January 4, 2012. Date of publication March 19, 2012; date of current version April 11, 2012. This project was funded at the University of Illinois by the U.S. Department of Energy with Grant DE-FG02-04ER54765 (contract monitored by T. V. George), and supported by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725. SEM images were obtained in the Center for Microanalysis of Materials, University of Illinois, which is partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Grant DEFG02-91-ER45439.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-FG02-04ER54765 |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | DE-AC05-00OR22725, DEFG02-91-ER45439 |
Keywords
- Breakdown model
- plasma material interactions
- unipolar arc
- vacuum breakdown