Influence of the Condition of the Exposed Electrode Edge in the SDBD on the Discharge Operation Mode in Argon

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the phenomenological study of the operating modes of a surface barrier discharge in argon in the case of treated by the discharge and new aluminum and copper electrodes. It is shown that without preliminary treating of the edges of the electrodes in the case of copper and aluminum electrodes, the discharge has a different spatial structure determined by the self-organization of the DBD. After erosion cleaning of the electrode edges, the identical operating modes are established. Such effects confirm the former assumption that the key factor determining the mode of the discharge operation for various electrode materials is the surface charge built on the oxides deposited on the edge. The different dynamics of oxides in the case of copper and aluminum electrodes is determined by the resistance of the oxides of these metals to sputtering, which is indirectly confirmed by the estimation of the binding energy for these materials.