Gas Discharge Induced by Microparticles Moving between Two Parallel Electrodes

The localized discharge, originating from the micrometer-sized charged particles moving between the parallel electrodes filled with 1.0 atm N₂, was empirically approximated, mathematically modeled, theoretically analyzed, and numerically simulated in 2 D particle-in-cell Monte Carlo collision (PIC-MCC) code to understand the breakdown mechanism (s).The influence of the physics, including the field emission of primary/secondary electrons, field enhancement factor of cathode and gas ionization, on the discharge was investigated.The time evolution of electron/ion distributions was calculated.The simulated results show that the highly localized field emission of primary (seed) electrons, induced by the positively charged micro-particles approaching the cathode, has a major impact.To be specific, these "seed electrons" are responsible for field distortion, large field enhancement factor, gas ionization and secondary electron emission.Consequently, it is the seed electrons that possibly ignite the breakdown of the gap.