The breakdown time delay and jitter of different cathode materials under nanosecond pulse in N<inf>2</inf>

Abstract

Cathode material affecting the electrical breakdown time delay and jitter of self-breakdown gas switch has been studied. Experiments have tested the electrical breakdown time delay of four typical cathode materials including stainless steel, brass, W-Cu alloy and graphite under different applied voltage. The gas switch is operated at N2 pressured of 0.1 MPa, in nanosecond pulsed discharge. The breakdown time delay values t d of different cathode materials as the function of the experimental ordinal number are presented. The contourgraph has been used to scan the surface morphology of four cathode electrodes. Comparing the breakdown time delay curve with the section morphology of cathode electrode, it has been preliminarily concluded that the breakdown time delay and jitter are potentially relevant to the surface condition, the surface morphology and physical parameters of cathode material.