Electromagnetic sensitivity analysis of RF gas micro/nano-breakdown

RF gas micro-breakdown occurs in the presence of electric field in the order of 10s of V/μm. In addition to gas type, pressure and temperature, the breakdown field also depends on several microscopic parameters such as the secondary electron emission coefficient and the field enhancement factor. In this paper, the effects of these parameters on the electromagnetic properties of micro-plasma regions in different RF discharge regimes are evaluated. It is shown that the breakdown voltage and the characteristics of the resulting plasma are almost independent of these parameters in the diffusion-controlled region while the situation is different in the boundary-controlled area.