Impulse-Breakdown Characteristics of a High-Power Gas Switch Based on Graphene Cathode

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 47; no. 10; pp. 4567 - 4571
• Main Authors: Wang, Gang, Su, Jian-Cang, Zhang, Xi-Bo, Liu, Sheng, Pan, Ya-Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-10-2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Breakdown; Cathodes; Chemical vapor deposition; Copper; Electric fields; Electric potential; Emission analysis; Field emission; Gas pressure; gas switch; Graphene; Graphene cathode; Graphite; Jitter; Organic chemistry; Physical properties; pulse power; Switches; Vibration; Voltage
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2019.2919350

Graphene has attracted great interest for its distinctive band structure and physical properties. Results from previous studies show that a graphene cathode can provide stable field emission and intense emission in a vacuum. In this paper, a graphene cathode was fabricated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper electrodes, and the breakdown of the cathode in a high-pressure gas was studied. A low-jitter, self-breakdown gas spark switch based on a graphene cathode is proposed in this paper. The impulse-breakdown characteristics of this switch in a quasi-uniform electric field were studied. When the gap length is 5 mm, and the gas pressure is 0.6 MPa, the average breakdown voltage (U BD ) is nearly 85.9 kV, and the voltage jitter is only 3.2%; these values are much lower than those for pure copper cathodes and graphite cathodes. The graphene cathode is found to be a suitable choice for use as a high-power gas switch in applications requiring an intense emission source.