微米尺度气体击穿的数值模拟研究进展

As the design and application of power equipment, electronic devices and new concept weapons are developing towards miniaturization and integration, the insulation issue of microstructures under extreme high electric field has become increasingly prominent. Therefore, in the past two decades, a lot of theoretical, experimental and numerical simulation research has been carried out on the electrical breakdown mechanism and insulation properties at the micro-nano scale range all around the world, and important progress have been obtained. Unlike the numerical simulation at macroscale, while the breakdown gap lies in micrometers, which is comparable to the mean free path of electrons, the contribution of field electron emission needs to be emphasized. Meanwhile, the meshing of the computing domains will be much finer, resulting in a huge computational cost. In this work, the research progress on the theoretical study and numerical simulations of micro-scale gas breakdown in recent years was reviewed. The numerical simulation method, physical model establishment, breakdown process analysis and influence mechanism at micron gaps were emphasized and summarized. Then the current problems and challenges were proposed, and perspectives in the future was also put forward. This review should be of great significance to further understand and develop the breakdown theory at microscale.