Operation of a Cold Cathode Gas Triode in a High Impedance Self-Biasing Circuit

It has been found that when a cold cathode gas triode operates in a high impedance grid circuit in the absence of light or any other external radiation, these tubes have a tendency to fire without any triggering signal applied. This unsatisfactory operation is shown to be a function of the rate of rise of voltage and the time delays found in the breakdown of gaseous discharges. It is further shown that operation can be made satisfactory by making the prebreakdown current larger than a certain minimum value.