Increase of the breakdown voltage of a pseudospark discharge by applying a blocking potential

Investigations of the static breakdown voltage in dependence of the gas pressure for a pseudospark (PS) discharge with an additional blocking electrode are presented. Experiments by variation of the position and geometry of the blocking electrode in the hollow cathode of PS and the applied blocking potential were performed. With respect to the potential use of a hollow-cathode-based gas discharge as source of extreme-ultraviolet radiation for future lithography, xenon as working gas has been used.