Pressure-independent point in current-voltage characteristics of coplanar electrode microplasma devices operated in neon

摘要

We introduce the idea of a pressure-independent point (PIP) in a group of current-voltage curves for the coplanar electrode microplasma device (CEMPD) at neon pressures ranging from 15 to 95 kPa. We studied four samples of CEMPDs with different sizes of the microcavity and observed the PIP phenomenon for each sample. The PIP voltage depends on the area of the microcavity and is independent of the height of the microcavity. The PIP discharge current, I_(PIP), is proportional to the volume (Vol) of the microcavity and can be expressed by the formula I_(PIP)=I_(PIPO)+D × Vol. For our samples, I_(PIPO) (the discharge current when Vol is zero) is about zero and D (discharge current density) is about 3.95 mA mm~(-3). The error in D is 0.411 mA mm~(-3) (less than 11 % of D). When the CEMPD operates at V_(PIP), the discharge current is quite stable under different neon pressures.