A Stable Discharge Glow in Gas Discharge System with Semiconducting Cathode

(Received 10 September 1996, revised 17 December 1996, accepted 6 January 1997)

Abstract
A dc discharge generated between parallel plate electrodes are studied. The spatial stabilization of the gas discharge with the semiconducting Si at 90 K have been studied in a wide range of the gas pressure p (21.3-466.5 hPa) and of inter-electrode distance d (10  m - 5 mm) for the first time. The cathode was irradiated on the back-side with light in a particular wavelength range that was used to control the photoconductivity of the material. The semiconductor material was found to "stabilize" the discharge. The stable functioning of the ionization system at pressures of 21.3-466.5 hPa with a gap value of 10 - 100  m and the photocurrent density about 10 ^-4 A cm ^-2 is possible.