Fundamentals of DC Breakdown Physics and Its Applications in Industry*

Starting from Townsend's theory for gas breakdown, various studies have been conducted to understand DC discharges [1]. The initial theoretical model, based on alpha and gamma processes, has been extended to models that consider various secondary electron emission mechanisms, a wide range of discharge region sizes, and complex discharge shapes. Recently, the necessity of extending the conventional DC breakdown theory has emerged to explain unintended discharge phenomena occurring in applications such as semiconductor processes. We have conducted experiments to simulate the phenomena occurring in industrial applications to understand such complex DC breakdown phenomena. The experiments range from narrow gap discharges facing a low-temperature background plasma [2] to environments influenced by electron beams, exploring the effects of these conditions through the observation of the Paschen curve, which were not considered in the traditional Townsend theory.