Breakdown characteristics of Argon in partial vacuum under high frequency pulsed voltage with varing duty cycle

In this paper, the breakdown characteristics of argon as a function of pressure from 0.1 torr to 4 torr, for kHz range applied fields are presented. A unipolar pulsed signal is applied to a point-plane electrode configuration. Three different frequencies, namely 20 kHz, 50 kHz, and 100 kHz with varying duty cycle from 10% to 90%, are used in the experiments to determine the duty cycle effects on the breakdown voltage. Current and voltage waveforms as a function of time, and breakdown voltage as a function of duty cycle for three frequencies mentioned above are presented.