Investigation of the Effect of Discharge Plasma Stabilization by a Semiconductor

The present paper deals with the urgent problem of the gas discharge plasma contact with a semiconducting electrode. The phenomenon of gas discharge stabilization by a semiconducting electrode has been investigated in metal-thin (10 - 100~μm) gas gap-high ohmic semiconductor structure. Gallium arsenide (107 - 108 ohm cm) has been used as the semiconductor. It has been found that the deposition of a metallic film on particular regions of a semiconductor surface leads to current filamentation on the corresponding regions. This fact confirms the conclusion that the stabilization effect is determined by boundary conditions on a plasma-semiconductor contact.