Abstract
Pulsed glow discharge is one of the candidates for the ion source plasma because it can easily generate large volume plasma even for a short time. This paper describes the characteristics of a transient glow discharge with high current using a low impedance circuit. A low inductance capacitor of 1.89μ F was used in this experiment. The voltage between electrodes and consumed energy were obtained by calculation of circuit equations and measurement of discharge current and static breakdown voltage. The gas used is dry air. As the experimental results, the transient glow discharge with high current above one hundred ampere was generated for several microseconds. It was clarified that cathode fall voltage under this experimental condition is approximately 320V which agrees with the value of normal glow discharge. The glow-to-arc transition occurs when the consumed energy in the cathode fall region reaches almost 35mJ in the present experimental conditions.