Similarity law for rf breakdown

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that the similarity law for the rf gas breakdown has the form Urf =F(p ·L, L/R, f ·L)(where Urf is the rf breakdown voltage, p is the gas pressure, L and R are the length and diameter of the discharge tube, respectively, f is the frequency of the rf electric field). It means that two rf breakdown curves registered for narrow inter-electrode gaps or in geometrically similar tubes and depicted in the Urf (p ·L) graph will coincide only when the condition f ·L = const is met. This similarity law follows from the rf gas breakdown equation and it is well supported by the results of measurements.