Electric Field Enhancement Factor defined by nanoprotrusions on the electrode surface in microgaps in needle-plate configuration

Fathur Rahman (1, 2) , Jean-Pascal Cambronne (3) , Antoine Belinger (4) , Ngapuli I Sinisuka (2) , Kremena Makasheva (4)

1 LAPLACE - LAboratoire PLasma et Conversion d'Energie
2 ITB - Institut Teknologi Bandung
3 LAPLACE-MDCE - Matériaux Diélectriques dans la Conversion d’Energie
4 LAPLACE-ScIPRA - Sciences et Ingénierie des Plasmas Réactifs et des Arcs

Proper description of the electrical behavior of miniaturized devices requires better understanding of the breakdown phenomena in microgaps (< 10µm) at atmospheric pressures. In microgaps the breakdown characteristics deviate from those defined by the Paschen's law. It is now well accepted that the departure from Paschen's law is due to the contribution of field electron emission. Apart from the small distance, the presence of protrusions on the cathode surface can largely intensify this phenomenon. In this work, the electric field distribution is simulated in needle-plate configuration in presence of various nanoprotrusions on the cathode surface. The purpose is to find conditions when the nanoprotrusions can initiate field electron emission due to a local enhancement of the electric field. The maximum electric field is determined by the location and the geometry of the nanoprotrusions. Surprisingly, for a semicircle shape of nanoprotrusions, the maximum electric field does not depend on the size of nanoprotrusions.

Mots clés: microgaps; nanoprotrusions; FEMM; Electric Field Enhancement Factor (EFEF); breakdown

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]

Fathur Rahman, Jean-Pascal Cambronne, Antoine Belinger, Ngapuli I Sinisuka, Kremena Makasheva. Electric Field Enhancement Factor defined by nanoprotrusions on the electrode surface in microgaps in needle-plate configuration. 14th IEEE Nanotechnology Materials and Devices Conference (IEEE NMDC 2019), Oct 2019, Stockholm, Sweden. ⟨hal-03092546⟩