Silicon microdischarge devices having inverted pyramidal cathodes: Fabrication and performance of arrays

Microdischarge devices having inverted, square pyramidal cathodes as small as 50 mm350 mm at the base and 35 mm in depth, have been fabricated in silicon and operated at gas pressures up to 1200 Torr. For the polyimide dielectric incorporated into these devices («r52.9), the discharges produced exhibit high differential resistance (;2310 V in Ne!, ignition voltages for a single device of ;260–290 V, and currents typically in the mA range. Arrays as large as 10310 have been fabricated. For an 8 mm thick polyimide dielectric layer, operating voltages as low as 200 V for a 535 array have been measured for 700 Torr of Ne. Array lifetimes are presently limited to several hours by the thin ~1200–2000 Å! Ni anode. © 2001 American Institute of Physics. @DOI: 10.1063/1.1338971#