Abstract
ABSTRACT As manufacture technology has been improved over the past few years, it is evident that the size of the components to be manufactured has been affected, and the aspiration to reduce the size of such components is going towards microcosmic. One of the problems is the electrode breakdown at electrode separations for less than a millimeter separation. At large separation, the behavior of the electrodes has been widely studied and is reasonably well understood. However, some fundamental problems have not been probably addressed such as maximum safe operating voltages and critical dimensions required at the small separations between various types of materials. In this thesis, experimental methodology and procedures were implemented successfully, and the experimental apparatus employed for measuring the breakdown discharge data were established. The experimental results have been compared with the theoretical predictions on the breakdown voltage based upon the so-called Paschen’s Law. The law was used to derive a set of curves that display the breakdown voltage versus the pressure spacing products. Then, the breakdown phenomenon in the gap between the electrodes with various metals under DC high voltages were analyzed. A basic guide for industrial design has be developed based upon the tested model; and, the research results can be extended to exploring the safety of electric switches. Also, the results can serve as the references in the design of micro- and nanotechnology products. Keywords： Micron-gap、Electric Breakdown、Discharge Phenomenon.