A microplasma device and its switching behavior triggered by modulated pulse signal

Abstract

Abstract Since the physical and electrical properties of plasmas are similar to those of semiconductor devices, plasma devices have been proposed to be good candidates for switching controlled devices when applied in harsh environments. In the proposed paper, a microplasma device with a dielectric barrier structure constructed with three electrodes (two driven electrodes and one trigger electrode) is fabricated, and the electrical characteristics of the proposed device are investigated in 2 kPa of argon. From the experimental results, a stable conducting current is obtained through the two driven electrodes in the device due to gas discharge, since the hysteresis characteristic of discharge plasmas (discharge is still maintained when the driven voltage is below the breakdown voltage of the gas because of the existence of residual charge particles), the device can be switched from the OFF to ON state through pre-discharge by a pulse applied to the trigger electrode. While in the device ON state, this trigger voltage attracts channel charged particles to the surface of the dielectric layer, quenching the discharge plasma current and the device can be switched from ON to OFF state. The trigger pulse that makes the device switch successfully goes from single to continuous up to 80 kHz. The influence of pulse parameters on the switching process is also investigated, pulse amplitude and pulse width are found to be important to determine whether the device can switch ON or OFF, peak current after switching, and the response speed of switching ON current; however, these switching parameters are barely affected by the rise and fall time of the pulse. The results are significant for the application of microplasma switching devices.