The effect of variation of collisional gas parameters on theoretical electromagnetic transient breakdowns

Prediction of the performance of intense electromagnetic transient, gaseous breakdown depends on various parameters used for the description of the gaseous media. Of these parameters, some describe the impact ionization cross section for stable atoms and molecules, and are specific for each species. These parameters are: the first ionization energy, E/sub i/, a scaling parameter which characterizes the collision cross section per electron volt of the species, and a parameter which represents the incident electron energy at which the peak impact ionization cross section occurs. This paper discusses the effect that these parameters have upon electrical breakdown performance in an intense electromagnetic transient environment.