Hi,

The breakdown field of air, or gas in general, is a function
of gas pressure times gap distance (Paschen curve). But it
depends on many other things too, like purity of gas,
humidity, electrode material, surface finish, and shape, etc.
So the breakdown field varies from case to case. For pure
air, the breakdown field is on the order of kilovolts per mm
at atmosphere. The best way to find out the breakdown
field of your setup is to do your own measurement with
different gas pressures and gap distances and plot your
own curves.
There is a book entitled "Gas Discharges". I forgot the author's
name but I can find out for you if you need it.

Tseng-Yang Hsu
Integrated Micromachines
yang@micromachines.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Wouter van der Wijngaart 
To: MEMS@ISI.EDU 
Date: Thursday, April 16, 1998 7:49 PM
Subject: Re: Deep Si etch


>Hello,
>For people searching on Deep Si etched structures:
>STS (http://www.stsystems.com/index.html) and Alcatel both develloped some
>processes and etched some devices for us, as we were looking for an ICP
>etcher. I suggest you contact them with those very specific questions. Our
>experience is that a lot can be done, but that each mask pattern requires
>its own fine-tuned process...
>
>Wouter van der Wijngaart
>Kungl. Tekniska Högskolan Tel: +46 - (0)8 - 790 66 13
>S3, Elektrisk mätteknik Fax: +46 - (0)8 - 10 08 58
>100 44  Stockholm Minicall: +46 - (0)740 - 26 71 28
>Sweden e-mail: wouter@s3.kth.se
>http://www.s3.kth.se/instrlab/staff/wouterw.html
>
>
>
>