Influence of electrode surface and some gas phase processes on electrical breakdown in nitrogen-filled diodes

The role of the electrode surface and some gas phase processes in the production of electrons which initiate electrical breakdown is investigated. The results show that to achieve approximately constant secondary electron emission in these experimental conditions it is necessary to perform about 1000 breakdowns. The experiments indicated that the initial electrons are created by the impact of N 2 metastable states on the cathode and the nonradiative lifetime of these states depends on the gas pressure.