Multipactor in parallel-plate transmission line partially filled with dielectric material

Abstract

Due to the poor conductivity of the dielectrics, if an electron collides with the dielectric material, a charge will be deposited on the surface as a consequence of the secondary electron emission. Thus, the multipactor process in dielectric-loaded microwave devices differs from those in metallic devices. The objective of this paper is to study the self-extinguishing physical mechanism of the multipactor in parallel-plate transmission lines partially filled with dielectric layers by particle-in-cell simulation. The self-consistent field generated by the electrons in the simulation is assumed to be neglected, since there do not exist too many electrons in the self-extinguishing process. To illustrate the self-extinguishing phenomenon in a dielectric-loaded waveguide device, the strength of electric field in the vacuum area needs to be the same as that in a metallic device. When the input power is slightly higher than the multipactor threshold, the self-extinguishing phenomenon occurs after the initial electron multiplication while the number of electrons increases exponentially with the simulation duration in metallic device. Based on this fact, the physical mechanism of self-extinguishing phenomenon is investigated in detail. By analyzing the temporal evolution of the electrons and the average secondary electron yield (SEY), it can be concluded that the self-extinguishing phenomenon is caused by the electrostatic field generated by the charges deposited on the surface of the dielectric. Moreover, the average SEY of the dielectric tends to be one or greater than one when the number of electrons drops to nearly zero. Hence, it is necessary to further analyze the ability to continue accumulating charges on the dielectric surface when extra electrons are injected into the simulation region at the instant when the number of electrons is close to zero. For the former case, the charges deposited on the dielectric surface remain steady all along, while the charges reach to a stable state eventually as the number of injected electrons increases for the latter one. Both of them mean that the average SEY of the dielectric surface will be unity in the end. Since the electrostatic field generated by the charge deposited on the dielectric surface can reduce the risk of occurrence of multipactor, the electret material could be used in the design of the dielectric-loaded microwave devices to improve the multipactor threshold.