Secondary electron emission influence on the RF gas breakdown

Summary form only given. The conditions of the RF discharge studied earlier have revealed the ambiguous link between breakdown voltage and gas pressure (Levitskii S.M.-Zhurn. Tekh. Fit., 1957, V.27, p.970; Lisovsky V.A. et al.-J. Phys. D, 1994, V.27, p.2340). It is of interest to study the influence of the electrode material on the characteristics of the low-pressure gas breakdown in RF fields. The field frequency is f=13.56 MHz, gas pressure p=0.01-10 Torr, d=14-30 mm is the distance between plane electrodes of stainless steel and aluminum of 100 mm diameter. To decrease the secondary electron emission, the steel electrodes have been covered with soot, and to increase electron emission the aluminum electrodes have been employed. At sufficiently high pressures the right-hand branches of breakdown curves coincide (for identical contents of the gas medium in the chamber). On decreasing pressure, the more the secondary electron emission of electrodes is, the less are the voltage values necessary to break the gas, the breakdown curves pass through the region of lower pressures.