Temperature Dependence of Electrical Breakdown Mechanism on the Left of the Paschen Minimum

We have been investigating the effect of low pressure combined with high temperature on the breakdown voltage. Results show two different behaviors related to temperature at low pressure. In an attempt to explain these results, it appears that this effect is related to the presence of two different breakdown phenomena. The first one is obtained when the temperature is below the room temperature, and the other one is obtained when it is above it. Such an assumption is supported by energy measurements and by mean-free-path-of-electron calculations at different temperatures. Thus, we can show that the electrical breakdown in gases occurs due to the gas or vacuum mechanism and the discharge mode is glow or filamentary, respectively.